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KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here allowed the prosecution offer to tender the witness statement of former 1MDB Chief Executive Mohd Hazem Abdul Rahman in the abuse of power trial of former Prime Minister Najib Razak, but will decide on its admissibility later.
Trial judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah delivered the ruling after hearing arguments over the past three days from ad-hoc prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram and defense attorney Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.
“It is premature now to decide on admissibility at this stage, as other evidence is emerging at the later stage of the trial.
“DPPs can be harmed if they can’t develop their case,” he said.
Sequerah said he will decide on the admissibility of Hazem’s statement at the end of the prosecution’s case.
The hearing continues on September 14, where Hazem will take the stand as a witness.
Najib’s attorneys argued that Hazem’s statement contained elements of hearsay and therefore should not be allowed.
Earlier today, Sri Ram told the court that Sequerah is not required to render a ruling at this stage and that the prosecution had provided enough legal cases to back up its argument.
“We will call witnesses to testify about what happened between them and the defendant (Najib) when they were at 1MDB,” he added.
Shafee argued that there were “double rumors” on many occasions that Hazem had included in his statement.
“If we allow Hazem’s testimony where he said ‘Jho Low told me’ or ‘Azlin told me’, where is the guarantee of the truth?
“There should be no inadmissible evidence,” he said, referring to fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho and Najib’s late chief private secretary Azlin Alias.
Najib faces 25 charges of abuse of power and money laundering for alleged 1MDB funds worth RM2,280 million deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.
The prosecution is expected to call 54 other witnesses, including two former Singaporean bankers, to testify at the trial.
