Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's defence counsel told the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Thursday (Sept 19) that testimonies from witnesses relying on hearsay should be disregarded as their validity cannot be verified.
Najib's lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said the hearsay specifically refers to statements concerning the former premier's principal private secretary, the late Datuk Azlin Alias and fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, whom the prosecution contends was Najib's alter ego in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal.
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Najib's lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said the hearsay specifically refers to statements concerning the former premier's principal private secretary, the late Datuk Azlin Alias and fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, whom the prosecution contends was Najib's alter ego in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal.
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NewsTranscript
00:00The prosecution has resorted to hearsay evidence annexed on a deceased person
00:05to build its case against Datuk Seri Najib Razak in the RM2.28 billion Malaysia-development Berhad Graft case
00:13the Kuala Lumpur High Court heard on Thursday.
00:16Lead Defence Counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafi Abdullah, in his submissions,
00:20said the prosecution made a substantial dependence on a multitude of hearsay statements
00:26from witnesses who did not experience the events firsthand.
00:29He said numerous statements allegedly made by Najib's former Principal Private Secretary
00:34Datuk Azlin Alias, who died in a helicopter crash in 2015, were echoed by witnesses to assert
00:41that Najib was the decision-maker for the transactions in 1MDB.
00:46During the trial, the court heard testimony from Najib's former special officer
00:51Datuk Amhari Effendi Nazaruddin, who claimed to have heard from Azlin.
00:56Without Azlin's presence, the defence contended that it remained unknown
01:01whether Najib gave such instructions, or whether these were mere fabrication by Azlin,
01:07who could have been colluding with fugitive businessman Low Taik Jo, or better known as Jo Low.
01:13The defence also contended that any statements attributed to Azlin and repeated by the witnesses
01:19cannot be verified for accuracy, making them hearsay and therefore inadmissible.
01:24Najib is on trial for 25 charges in total,
01:27four for abuse of power and 21 for money laundering involving the same amount of money.
01:33The hearing before Justice Colin Lawrence Sequeira continues.