Day 71 Defence Expected To Press For Australian Handwriting Expert

---

The criminal trial of former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak involving the alleged misappropriation of funds from SRC International Sdn Bhd enters day 71 today at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur
Malaysiakini brings you live reports of the proceedings
Summary of Najib’s SRC RM42 million caseNajib is facing 7 charges relating to RM42m involving SRC International, a former 1MDB subsidiary
1 abuse of power charge3 criminal breach of trust (CBT) charges3 money laundering chargesClick to view information on judge, prosecution and defence teamThe 71st day of Najib Abdul Razak's RM42 million SRC International trial today will resume with continuing submissions over the former prime minister's bid for an Australian handwriting expert be allowed to examine the authenticity of his signatures on 13 key documents in the case
The former finance minister's defence counsel Harvinderjit Singh is expected to continue his arguments on why the accused should be allowed to bring the expert into the trial and scrutinise the disputed documents, which included minutes of SRC International and 1MDB among others
SRC International was a subsidiary of 1MDB before the former's ownership came under Minister of Finance Incorporated (MoF Inc) in 2012. Najib was then SRC advisor emeritus as well as chairperson of 1MDB's board of advisors
Yesterday before the Kuala Lumpur High Court, Harvinderjit had argued that the expert should be allowed to examine the documents as the prosecution failed to determine the authenticity of the documents during the prosecution stage of hearing last year
Deputy public prosecutor (DPP) V Sithambaram, however, countered that the application was done in mala fide (bad faith) and as an afterthought as the defence did not object during trial last year to the admission of the documents as evidence
On Dec 9 last year, it was reported that Najib is seeking for the court to allow the Australian handwriting expert to examine the accused's purported signatures on the SRC documents and ascertain whether the signatures really were his own
Today's proceedings will resume before justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali at around 9am
[More to follow] - Mkini

---