Jan 30 decision on Najib, Arul Kanda's 1MDB audit report case

The Kuala Lumpur High Court has fixed Jan 30 next year to decide whether former prime minister Najib Razak and former 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy will be acquitted or ordered to enter their defence on the audit tampering case.

Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan set the date after hearing submissions at the end of the prosecution's case.

He also thanked the prosecution and the defence for their oral submission.

The prosecution was led by senior deputy public prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram, while Najib was represented by lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah and lawyer N Sivananthan appeared for Arul Kanda.

The prosecution closed its case on Sept 7 after calling 16 witnesses, including former chief secretary to the government, the late Ali Hamsa; former auditor-generals Ambrin Buang and Madinah Mohamad; former 1MDB chairman Mohd Bakke Salleh and former National Audit Department audit director Saadatul Nafisah Bashir Ahmad.

On June 24, the court allowed the prosecution’s application for Arul Kanda to take the stand as a witness and give evidence against Najib in the trial under Section 63(1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009.

The section states that whenever two or more persons are charged with an offence under the MACC Act, the court may, on an application in writing by the prosecution, require one or more of them to give evidence as a witness or witnesses for the prosecution.

Najib, 69, is charged with using his position to order amendments to the final 1MDB audit report before it was presented to the Public Accounts Committee, to avoid any action against him, while Arul Kanda, 45, is charged with abetting Najib in making the amendments to the report, to protect Najib from being subjected to action.

The offence was allegedly committed at the Prime Minister's Department Complex, Federal Government Administrative Centre, Putrajayam between Feb 22 and 26, 2016.

Both Najib and Arul Kanda were charged under Section 23 (1) of the MACC Act, which provides for a jail term of up to 20 years and a fine of no less than five times the amount of gratification or RM10,000, whichever is higher, upon conviction.