Court to decide if Najib, Arul Kanda enter defence or walk free in 1MDB audit report case

The Kuala Lumpur High Court will decide tomorrow whether Najib Razak and former 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy enter their defence or are acquitted in the 1MDB audit tampering case. 

Justice Mohamed Zaini Mazlan, who was recently elevated to the appellate court, will pronounce his decision at 9am.

Last year, Arul Kanda took the stand as a witness in the case after the judge allowed the prosecution’s application under Section 63 of the Malaysian-Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) Act to call him as a witness in the case.

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.

Najib, 70, who is currently serving a 12-year jail sentence for misappropriating SRC International funds, 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.

Arul Kanda, 46, 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, Putrajaya, 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.

Deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib will act for the prosecution while lawyers Muhammad Shafee Abdullah and N Sivananthan will appear for Najib and Arul Kanda respectively.

Najib still has four court cases pending on the misappropriation of RM2.3 billion in 1MDB funds. The prosecution had called 44 witnesses so far.

He also has two other cases involving criminal breach of trust amounting to RM6.6 billion over payments to the International Petroleum Investment Company and money laundering involving SRC International funds worth RM27 million. Both cases are at the case management stage.