KUALA LUMPUR • Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak has failed in his attempt to delay one of his court trials relating to troubled state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
Najib's defence team had sought on Friday to postpone the hearing for the corruption and money-laundering case against him relating to RM42 million (S$13.8 million) of funds obtained from SRC International, a former 1MDB subsidiary.
Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali dismissed the request and ordered the trial to resume on Dec 3, as originally scheduled.
"I find that more than ample notice and reasonable time has been given to the applicant to prepare and to re-strategise the relevant arrangement," Justice Nazlan said.
The defence team had orally applied for a postponement on the grounds that they needed more time to prepare their case.
On Nov 11, Justice Nazlan had ordered Najib to enter his defence on all seven charges in the SRC trial after ruling that the prosecution had established a prima facie case against him. He faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine, if convicted.
Najib has also sought to push back the hearing date of another case, where he faces charges of tampering with the 1MDB audit report together with his co-accused and former 1MDB chief executive officer Arul Kanda Kandasamy.
Najib had applied to push the hearing, scheduled for tomorrow, to Jan 13 next year on the grounds that he would suffer prejudice if he and his lawyers were not allowed time to prepare his defence in the SRC case.
At the hearing for the motion on Friday, Arul Kanda's lawyer N. Sivananthan told High Court judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan that his client wanted to proceed as scheduled.
"My client wants the trial to begin soon so he can vindicate himself. The court must look to the interests of all parties and not only one person," Datuk Sivananthan said.
Public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib also objected to the postponement on the grounds that it would cast a negative perception on the judicial system.
Justice Zaini said he would rule on the postponement request tomorrow.
THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
