KUALA LUMPUR: Until today, former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has been charged in court six times with 42 counts of criminal charges. Following are the chronology of court cases filed against Najib, who is also Pekan Member of Parliament,
July 4, 2018: Najib was charged for the first time in the Sessions Court here with three counts of criminal breach of trust (CBT) and one charge of abusing his post over SRC International Sdn Bhd’s funds totalling RM42 million.
Aug 8, 2018: Najib was charged with three counts of money laundering involving RM42 million in proceeds from unlawful activities with the money belonging to SRC International Sdn Bhd. He pleaded not guilty .
Sept 20, 2018: Najib was brought back to the Sessions Court and charged with four counts of corruption amounting to RM2.282 billion of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) funds and 21 money laundering charges.
Oct 25, 2018: Najib and former Treasury Secretary-General Tan Sri Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah claimed trial to six counts of CBT involving funds amounting to RM6,636,065,000, owned by the Malaysian government.
Dec 12, 2018: Najib pleaded not guilty to a charge of using his position by ordering the Final Audit Report on 1MDB to be amended before tabling it to the National Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to avoid any action against him, while 1MDB former chief executive officer Arul Kanda Kandasamy was charged with abetting Najib in making amendments to the report to protect Najib from being subjected to disciplinary, civil or criminal action.
Feb 8, 2019: Najib, 66, was charged in the Sessions Court on three additional charges involving money laundering totaling RM47 million in 2014 and the court set March 8 for mention of the case. For seven criminal charges involving SRC International’s fund, the High Court has set Feb 12 for trial. However, Najib’s lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah is filing an appeal to stay the trial at the Court of Appeal on Monday.
This was after High Court Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali rejected the defence’s application to stay the trial pending disposal of Najib’s appeals.
Najib is appealing on his application for a gag order to prohibit the media from discussing merits of his criminal cases; his application for discovery of documents and statements; and his challenge on the appointment of lawyer Datuk Sulaiman Abdullah as the lead prosecutor in the case, which were dismissed by Mohd Nazlan.
On Feb 7, 2019, Najib filed another appeal in the Court of Appeal to reverse Mohd Nazlan’s ruling granting the public prosecutor to withdraw a certificate to transfer his seven charges over SRC International funds from the Sessions Court to the High Court.
Sulaiman was appointed as Senior DDP by the Attorney General’s Chamber to lead the prosecution team to handle Najib’s SRC International cases. Prominent criminal lawyer Datuk V Sithambaram was also appointed to assist the prosecution team.
For the 25 charges involving RM2.282 billion of 1MDB funds, High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah had set Feb 26 for further case management.
The trial has been fixed for 15 days from April 15 to May 3, 2019.
Former Federal Court judge Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram has been appointed as Senior DPP to lead the prosecution team in the 1MDB case.
For the case involving Najib and Mohd Irwan Serigar, High Court Judge, Mohd Nazlan set 28 days from July 8 to Aug 22, 2019 for the trial, except on Friday.
On Jan 4, the Sessions Court allowed the prosecution’s application to have a joint trial for the case involving Najib and Arul Kanda and fixed March 1 for mention. — Bernama