PETALING JAYA: Najib Razak’s application compelling enforcement agencies to provide him with additional documents to prepare his defence in the ongoing 1MDB corruption and money laundering trial is irrelevant, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) said.
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In an affidavit sighted by FMT, MACC investigating officer Aida Arifin said the former prime minister was attempting to discredit former Bank Negara governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz, a prosecution witness in the trial.
“It is not Zeti who is on trial but the accused (Najib). He can cross-examine her when Zeti gives her evidence. It is for the court to decide the credibility of the prosecution witness at the end of the prosecution’s case,” Aida said.
She said Najib’s defence had, through three prosecution witnesses so far, only revealed that as prime minister and finance minister, he was duped by fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low.
Aida said Najib would not be denied a fair trial as the prosecution had earlier supplied him with 50 volumes of documents in preparation for his defence.
“The accused can always call witnesses in his defence, in the event he is called to enter his defence on the charges,” she said.
Police officer Foo Mei Min, who investigated the money laundering charges, had also affirmed an affidavit and provided similar reasons as Aida to dismiss Najib’s application.
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Najib, who filed a discovery application last month, wants the prosecution to provide banking documents belonging to companies controlled by Jho Low and Zeti’s family.
He also wants the court to exercise its power to call senior police officer R Rajagopal, MACC’s Mohammad Zamri Zainul Abidin and Bank Negara Malaysia’s Mohd Fuad Arshad to be questioned by his lawyers.
According to Najib, the documents sought were relevant to enable the court to have a complete and holistic appreciation of all the material facts and evidence of the 1MDB case to arrive at a just and fair decision.
On another matter, Aida affirmed a separate affidavit to dismiss Najib’s bid to obtain all communication data from US bankers Goldman Sachs for the purpose of his trial.
“The application is an abuse of court process,” she said, adding that the application was a fishing expedition, a red herring and completely irrelevant to the defence put forward so far.
Najib is standing trial on 25 charges for abuse of power and money laundering over alleged 1MDB funds amounting to RM2.28 billion deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.-FMT