Najib has 'not slept in 3 to 4 days', 1MDB trial cut short
1MDB TRIAL | Najib Abdul Razak has not had a wink of sleep in the last three or four days due to the anticipation of today's earlier appeal hearing linked to an alleged royal addendum allowing him to be placed under house arrest, his lawyer told the court.
As a result, the High Court cut short this afternoon’s proceedings on the RM2.27 billion 1MDB abuse of power and money laundering trial against the former prime minister.
The trial before judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah convened around 2.30pm but the proceedings were adjourned before...
Summary
1MDB trial adjourns early after his lawyer told the judge that Najib Abdul Razak had not been able to sleep in the past 3-4 days.
Shafee says the sleepless nights were due to today's separate proceedings linked to the ex-premier's claim of a royal addendum allowing him to serve the remainder of his six-year jail sentence under house arrest.
1MDB TRIAL | Najib Abdul Razak has not had a wink of sleep in the last three or four days due to the anticipation of today's earlier appeal hearing linked to an alleged royal addendum allowing him to be placed under house arrest, his lawyer told the court.
As a result, the High Court cut short this afternoon’s proceedings on the RM2.27 billion 1MDB abuse of power and money laundering trial against the former prime minister.
The trial before judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah convened around 2.30pm but the proceedings were adjourned before 4pm due to the accused’s lack of slumber.
Lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah applied for the trial to end early and resume tomorrow as his client was not well-rested.
"My client Najib, due to what he has been anticipating this morning (royal addendum appeal hearing before the Court of Appeal), has not been sleeping for the last three or four days.
"He is not feeling good," Shafee said, adding that co-defence counsel Wan Azwan Aiman Wan Fakhruddin was also unwell.
Wan Azwan had earlier indicated to the court that he was on medication.
Sequerah then adjourned the trial and directed that proceedings resume tomorrow morning.
Royal addendum appeal
In his earlier appeal hearing, the appellate court allowed Najib leave to commence judicial review for enforcement of an alleged royal addendum permitting him to serve the remainder of his six-year sentence at home.
Najib is serving a six-year jail sentence over an abuse of power case involving RM42 million of funds from SRC International, a former subsidiary of 1MDB.
The appellate court sent the matter back to the Kuala Lumpur High Court to hear the merits of Najib's judicial review.
It was reported that at least 1,000 people managed to gather outside the Palace of Justice this morning in a rally to show support for Najib, which included political figures from Umno and PAS.
This was despite Umno cancelling the event after Istana Negara issued a statement that reaffirmed bids for clemency must go through the Pardons Board and police erecting roadblocks to hamper rally-goers from entering Putrajaya.
Answerable case
On Oct 30, the criminal court ordered Najib to enter his defence over four abuse of power and 21 money laundering charges involving RM2.27 billion of funds from 1MDB.
Sequerah ruled that the prosecution succeeded in establishing a prima facie (answerable) case against Najib over the Minister of Finance Incorporated’s (MOF Inc) wholly owned company.
The judge ruled that Najib had to answer the charges due to the strength of the various 50 witness testimonies during the prosecution stage of proceedings that lasted six years since the trial began in 2019. The accused was first charged in 2018.
Since the prima facie ruling, Najib has been testifying in his defence against the 1MDB criminal charges.
Deputy public prosecutor Kamal Baharin Omar prosecuted.
Exactly1 Why should the machines of justice come to a halt for one miserable thief?
Najid will not sleep well regardless of what happened, if he genuinely wanted peace of mind to sleep well with no guilt, Returned what he had stolen from 1MDB back to State Let Alantuya murdered case retrial in the court. Pay back the billions income tax that was backdated years.