1mdb Witness Protection Chief Rebuffs Najib S Subpoena

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1MDB TRIAL | The chief of the witness protection programme is seeking to quash Najib Abdul Razak's subpoena for the former to testify in the ex-prime minister's RM2.27 billion 1MDB abuse of power and money laundering trial.
Senior federal counsel Nur Hidayah Raihan Md Nasir notified this to the High Court in Putrajaya today over the accused's bid to find out more about former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng.
Previously, Ng, a Malaysian, was convicted and sentenced to imprisonment in the US over his role in the embezzlement of funds from 1MDB.
However, late last year, the ex-banker was extradited to Malaysia to assist in the criminal investigation related to the troubled sovereign wealth fund.
Hidayah told trial judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah that Najib's subpoena issued yesterday morning ought to be set aside as the director-general of the protection division of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) is barred under the Witness Protection Act 2009 from revealing anything about the witness protection unit.
Roger Ng"Based on a telephone call with the defence team (yesterday), I find that the defence wants to ask him (DG) about Ng.
"Here, I believe there is a need for an application to set aside the subpoena as the DG is bound under witness protection law on secrecy that prevents him from revealing any information on the witness protection programme and welfare of its participants.
"If the DG is called to testify on Ng or anybody, he cannot testify as he is bound by law," Hidayah said.
She then sought more time to prepare the formal written application to set aside the subpoena.
Sequerah allowed her the time to file at court and serve the written application on Najib's defence team by midday on Friday.
The court will hear the setting aside application on Tuesday.
US court jails ex-banker
On Dec 9 last year, lead defence counsel Shafee Abdullah told the court that they were mulling whether to interview Ng to exonerate Najib.
In March 2023, the US criminal court sentenced Ng to 10 years in jail for involvement in the embezzlement of funds from 1MDB.
In the course of his defence testimony, Najib claimed that the US government previously blocked his attempt to obtain 1MDB-linked evidence from the US court.
The accused claimed that Ng told the US court that there was evidence that would exonerate the former premier from criminal liability in the 1MDB affair.
The 1MDB trial before Sequerah resumes tomorrow.
Prima facie established
On Oct 30 last year, the court ordered Najib to enter his defence over four abuses of power and 21 money laundering charges involving RM2.27 billion from 1MDB.
Sequerah ruled that the prosecution had succeeded in establishing a prima facie (answerable) case against Najib due to the strength of some 50 witness testimonies.
The prosecution witnesses included former members of 1MDB management, including former CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi, former chief financial officer Azmi Tahir, and former general counsel Jasmine Loo.
Between early December last year and late January this year, Najib spent 26 days on the witness stand trying to raise reasonable doubt in the prosecution’s case.
The accused contended that he had no knowledge or involvement in wrongdoing at 1MDB and that embezzlement there was solely masterminded by fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) and the management of the sovereign wealth fund.
Low Taek JhoThe former Pekan MP also relied on the defence that he was promised a donation by the late Saudi monarch King Abdullah during a meeting in Riyadh in 2010.
Since August 2022, Najib has been serving a six-year jail sentence over an abuse of power, CBT, and money laundering case involving RM42 million of funds from SRC International, a former subsidiary of 1MDB that later became fully owned by MoF Inc.
Early last year, the Pardons Board issued a statement for Najib's initial SRC case penalty of 12 years in jail and RM210 million fine to be reduced to six years imprisonment and RM50 million. - Mkini

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