Day 71: Najib agreed SRC taking second loan in hope it would do better

LIVE | 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.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS 

• Najib agreed SRC taking second loan in hope it would do better
• Najib denies being in a hurry to bring SRC under MOF Inc
• SRC board of directors never met Najib over RM4b investments
• Najib agrees to second gov't guarantee to RM2b loan despite no progress
• Curtailing an accused's defence would be prejudice - Shafee
• SRC docs with Najib's signatures admitted with caveat that can be challenged 
• Prosecution did not call expert to verify Najib's signatures - Defence
• Allow Najib's alleged signatures to be examined - Defence
• Prosecution wraps submission on calling expert witness
• No need for expert to tell whether signatures was Najib's or not
• 'All our cards are on the table' - Prosecution
• Najib's bid for handwriting expert likely to obstruct fair trial 
• Defence didn't raise forgery issue when Ismee identified Najib's signatures
• Defence acknowledged Najib's signatures on SRC documents in early stage of trial

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4.55pm - Thank you for following our live report today.

Reporting by Hidir Reduan Abdul Rashid and Hariz Mohd. Photographs by Azneal Ishak. Social media updates by Ewe Linq Yenn.

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Court adjourns, trial to continue tomorrow

4.22pm - Proceedings adjourn for today and will resume at 9am tomorrow.

Najib agreed SRC taking second loan in hope it would do better

4.10pm - Former premier Najib Abdul Razak knew that SRC had not done anything with its first loan when the company applied for the second tranche of RM2 billion in 2012, but agreed to it in hope SRC would do better.

Najib said this under cross-examination by DPP V Sithambaram, when confronted on why he had agreed to SRC applying for another government guarantee for the second loan.

Sithambaram: You agree at that time (the second) government guarantee was given, you were personally aware that SRC would not succeed because it had done nothing with the first loan.

Najib: I was hoping it would do better.

Sithambaram: It had done nothing, how could it do better?

Najib: I was hoping it would do better.

Najib denies being in a hurry to bring SRC under MOF Inc

3.41pm - Najib Abdul Razak denies he was in a hurry to bring SRC International under the Minister of Finance Inc (MOF Inc) by signing its draft proposal on Feb 3, 2012.

The former prime minister says this to a question from DPP V Sithambaram during cross-examination.

Sithambaram is referring to a previous testimony by former deputy Treasury secretary-general Mat Noor Nawi that then finance minister Najib signed the draft proposal while at Subang Airport on Feb 3, 2012.

Mat Noor had testified that he was surprised by Najib immediately signing the draft proposal after reading every paragraph of a related letter.

Sithambaram: You were in a hurry to bring it (SRC) under MoF Inc as you signed a photocopy (proposal)?

Najib: I was not in a hurry.

Sithambaram: You signed a draft.

Najib: I thought it was in order.

Sithambaram: You signed in a hurry?

Najib: Disagree.

SRC board of directors never met Najib over RM4b investments

3.25pm - The court hears from former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak (above) that he had never summoned SRC International board of directors for a meeting to discuss the company's investment plan involving RM4 billion of funds borrowed from the government.

Najib testifies this during cross-examination by DPP V Sithambaram.

Pressed further on whether he now thinks that he should have asked to meet the board, with hindsight that the board had purportedly never passed any resolutions, Najib says that he trusted the board.

For the record, during the course of the trial, Najib had been disputing the authenticity of several sets of SRC documents, including shareholder resolutions bearing signatures that look like his.

These shareholder resolutions, which the prosecution is saying were all signed by Najib, had been acted upon by SRC board of directors. However, Najib refuted that he could order the board as shareholder could only act upon the board's proposal, and not the other way around.

Sithambaram: On the huge investment of government funds of RM4 billion, have you ever asked to meet the board of SRC?

Najib: Not as a board, no.

Sithambaram: On hindsight, it appears that SRC had never passed any board minutes, shareholder resolution. You don't think you should have asked to meet the board?

Najib: No, I have trust on the board.

Sithambaram: (How do you have) the trust sir, the board seems to have not done anything in seven years?

Najib: MKD should have alerted if there was a problem.

Najib agrees to second gov't guarantee to RM2b loan despite no progress

3.13pm - Najib Abdul Razak agrees that he agreed to a second government guarantee for Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP) RM2 billion loan to SRC International despite the company having no concrete good progress.

The former prime minister and finance minister is agreeing with DPP V Sithambaram during cross-examination.

The DPP is referring to a letter from then SRC International CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil to Najib dated Jan 9, 2012, where SRC was seeking a second government guarantee for a second tranche RM2 billion loan.

The government had earlier given a government guarantee for a first tranche of RM2 billion loan from KWAP to SRC in late 2011.

Sithambaram: In this letter, you agree to a second government guarantee (for second tranche of RM2 billion loan to SRC)?

Najib: In principle.

Sithambaram: That agreement in principle is provided that SRC provided good progress as reported to Datuk Seri (Najib)?

Najib: Yes.

Sithambaram: Before you have approval for second government guarantee, what was SRC's good progress?

Najib: There was some indication they (SRC) were working investment in energy like coal, they needed additional capital to secure investment.

Sithambaram: You agree that was their intention, to look for coal investment, but you were never told of actual good progress of SRC in a concrete fashion?

Najib: Yes.

Proceedings resume after lunch

2.57pm - Proceedings resume in the afternoon, with the prosecution expected to resume cross-examination of former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.

1.14pm - High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali reserves 9am tomorrow for his decision on Najib Abdul Razak's application for an Australian expert to examine the authenticity of the accused's signatures on key SRC International documents.

Proceedings then break for lunch, and the former prime minister's cross-examination will continue this afternoon at 2.45pm.

Curtailing an accused's defence would be prejudice - Shafee

12.30pm - Lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah (above) tells the court that Najib Abdul Razak's application to have an expert witness to examine signatures, purportedly his, should be allowed.

Citing several case laws, Shafee says that a court of law should consider even the slightest defence by an accused, including an afterthought.

"Doesn't matter what kind of defence an accused is raising, Yang Arif should consider the slightest for the benefit of the doubt," he says.

"Yang Arif will see in the Anglo-American system is not to curtail any kind of defence, doesn't matter how little it is. Even if its an afterthought, because that would be prejudice," Shafee adds.

Among the case laws that Shafee cited as an example was the decision by the Federal Court in Alcontara Ambrose Anthony versus public prosecutor in 1996, where the accused in a drug trafficking case appealed against his conviction by a lower court.

According to Shafee, the three-judge bench consisted of Federal Judges Edgar Joseph Jr, Mohamed Dzaiddin and Gopal Sri Ram ruled to allow Alcontara's appeal after finding that the trial judge has erred in his handling of the facts when considering Alcontara's defence.

For the record, Alcontara was sentenced to death after trial judge presiding his case assumed that Alcontara's defence that he was only transporting prawn crackers was a concoction story.

SRC docs with Najib's signatures admitted with caveat that can be challenged

12.16pm - The defence argues that the SRC International documents with Najib Abdul Razak's alleged signatures were admitted with the caveat that its authenticity can be challenged later.

The former prime minister's lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah submits this over why the High Court should allow the accused's bid for an Australian handwriting expert to examine the disputed signatures and determine its authenticity.

"We made it clear (during the prosecution stage of the RM42 million SRC International trial last year) that those documents we placed a caveat on them, they can be marked (as evidence) but they can be challenged.

"Once marked as P (marker for evidence admitted in court), it does not end there Like any ruling, Yang Arif (Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali) can revisit the ruling," Shafee submits.

11.59pm - Proceedings resume after a short break.

Also seen in the public gallery is Umno Youth chief Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki.

11.25am - Court goes for a short break. 

Trial expected to continue in 15 minutes with lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah delivering his submissions on the defence's application to call an expert witness to examine Najib Abdul Razak's signatures on seven disputed documents

Prosecution did not call expert to verify Najib's signatures - Defence

11.06am - The prosecution did not call an expert to verify Najib Abdul Razak's alleged signatures on key SRC International documents because it would not be in their favour, the High Court hears.

The former prime minister's counsel Harvinderjit Singh argues that the prosecution had instead relied on section 71 of the Evidence Act to allow the 13 disputed documents admitted as evidence during the prosecution stage of trial last year.

Section 71 states that if a witness denies or does not recall the execution of a document, its execution may be proved by other evidence.

"They (prosecution never had an investigational basis, hence why they went under Section 71. They were not caught by surprise, but by a roadblock.

"If an expert had come in (during the prosecution stage of trial last year to ascertain the validity of Najib's signatures), then it (case) would not be in their favour," Harvinderjit says.    

Allow Najib's alleged signatures to be examined - Defence

10.50am - The High Court should allow the Australian handwriting expert to examine Najib Abdul Razak's alleged signatures on key SRC International documents, because actual weight of this evidence would only be determined at end of trial, the defence argues.

Harvinderjit Singh (above) argues this on why the court should allow his client's application for the expert to examine the 13 disputed documents such as minutes of SRC.

The lawyer adds that this is all the more so as generally, for the most part, the makers of the disputed documents were not called during the prosecution stage of the trial.

"Nothing should prohibit us (defence) from putting in the evidence (report of Australian expert after analysing the disputed documents), the weight (of the Australian expert's report) is to be determined later (at end of the defence stage of trial)," Harvinderjit says.

Prosecution wraps submission on calling expert witness

10.35am - DPP V Sithambaram finishes his submission against defence's application to call an expert witness to examine Najib Abdul Razak's signatures on seven documents tendered in court as evidence.

Defence counsel Harvinderjit Singh (above) then takes his turn to reply.

No need for expert to tell whether signatures was Najib's or not

10.30am - The court hears from DPP V Sithambaram that there was no need for the court to call for an expert to say if signatures on seven documents disputed by the defence as Najib's or otherwise.

He says that this was because Najib, who is the accused, himself can say if the signatures were his.

"Here we are talking about signatures. Signatures, he (Najib) is in the position to say it is his or not. No need to call for expert, my lord.

"And he has also admitted to the signatures earlier. Now he changes his stance," Sithambaram said.

'All our cards are on the table' - Prosecution

10.05am - DPP V Sithambaram tells the court that the prosecution was not hiding anything or trying to play game with the defence in SRC International case.

He says this when submitting against the defence's application to call for an expert witness to examine Najib Abdul Razak's signatures on documents related to the company.

Sithambaram tells the court that it was not like the prosecution never gave Najib a chance to dispute the documents tendered as evidence in court before.

"This is not the case where we didn't give them a chance. We didn't push them into a corner. 57 days, never a word about forgery," says the DPP.

"All cards are on the table. We are not playing poker here.

"Justice is not a game," Sithambaram added.

For the record, Najib's defence team is disputing the authenticity of the former premier's signatures on seven documents tendered in court, and want to call for an expert witness from Australia to examine the papers.

Yesterday, during the defence's submissions in support of their application, lawyer Harvinderjit Singh claimed that many things were not made known to them before the commencement of the trial.

These include Blackberry Messenger chats involving Jho Low and that the prosecution did not have the original of some of the documents, according to Harvinderjit. 

Najib's bid for handwriting expert likely to obstruct fair trial

10.01am - The prosecution argues that Najib Abdul Razak's application, for an Australian handwriting expert to examine the authenticity of his signatures on key SRC International documents, is likely to obstruct the fair trial.

DPP V Sithambaram argues this as a reason for the High Court to dismiss the former prime minister's application linked to 13 crucial documents such as minutes of SRC International.

The DPP says that the court should dismiss the application by taking into account the conduct of the accused is likely to hinder the progress of the fair hearing of the RM42 million SRC International case.

Defence didn't raise forgery issue when Ismee identified Najib's signatures

9.35am - DPP V Sithambaram (above) tells the court that the defence's application to call for an expert witness to examine Najib Abdul Razak's signatures should not be allowed, as they did not raise issue about forgery when an important witness identified the signatures as Najib's in court.

The government attorney said that the former chairperson of SRC International board of directors, Ismee Ismail, had testified in court that he recognised Najib's signatures as he had previously affected instructions signed by the former prime minister during Ismee's time as a Tabung Haji chairperson.

Sithambaram says Ismee testified this when being cross-examined by defence counsel Harvinderjit Singh.

The defence did not challenge Ismee's identification of Najib's signatures then, he added.

"My lord, there is no challenge on why he (Ismee) identified this is signature of Datuk Seri Najib.

"This was the opportune moment to raise that issue," says Sithambaram.

Defence acknowledged Najib's signatures on SRC documents in early stage of trial

9.23am - The defence acknowledged Najib Abdul Razak's signatures on key SRC International documents during the prosecution stage of trial, the High Court hears.

DPP V Sithambaram submits that the defence acknowledged the signatures were not forged or fake, and merely raised the issue of the documentary evidence being photocopies.

"They (defence) now say these are forged documents, but it remains on your Lordship (Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali) judgement (order for Najib to enter defence in RM42 million SRC International case)," Sithambaram says.

The DPP is submitting on why the court should not allow Najib's application for an Australian handwriting expert to examine the authenticity of the accused's signatures on 13 key SRC documents such as minutes of SRC.

9.16am - Najib Abdul Razak enters the dock as proceedings begin.

The prosecution and defence are expected to resume submissions over the former prime minister's application for an Australian handwriting expert to examine the authenticity of the accused's signatures on 13 key documents in the RM42 million SRC International trial. 

9.05am - Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak enters the Kuala Lumpur High Court and takes a seat at the front row of the public gallery to await proceedings to begin.

Also seen in court is DPP V Sithambaram and other DPPs as well as Najib's lead counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah and other members of the accused's defence team.

The 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.