KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court today fixed 48 days, from Jan 6 next year, to hear the case of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and former Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah, who are facing six counts of criminal breach of trust (CBT) involving RM6.6 billion.
Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali set the dates during case management in the presence of deputy public prosecutor Datuk Jamil Aripin and lawyers Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah and Harvinderjit Singh, representing Najib, and Datuk K Kumaraendran, for Mohd Irwan Serigar.
The dates for the hearing in January are 6 to 9 and 20 to 23, followed by Feb 3 to 6, 10 to 13, 17 to 20 and 24 to 27.
In March, the dates are from 2 to 5 and 9 to 12, while the hearing dates in April are from 6 to 9, 13 to 16, 20 to 23 and 27 to 30.
Earlier, Jamil informed the court that the earlier dates set to hear the case, from July 8 to Aug 22 this year, had been vacated and requested for new dates.
Mohd Nazlan said the earlier dates had been vacated by the court to give way to the court to hear the case involving SRC International Sdn Bhd.
On Oct 25 last year, Najib, 66, and Mohd Irwan, 62, pleaded not guilty to six counts of CBT when the case was brought before the Sessions Court.
On the first count, they were jointly charged with, in their capacity as Finance Minister and Treasury secretary-general, respectively, and entrusted with the dominion of RM1.2 billion belonging to the Malaysian government, with committing CBT on the fund.
On the second count, Najib and Mohd Irwan were jointly charged with committing CBT of RM655 million belonging to the Malaysian government which were entrusted to them.
On the third count, they were jointly charged, in their capacity as public servants and holding the same post, with committing CBT of RM220 million belonging to the Malaysian government in the Federal Consolidated Fund under the “Belanja Mengurus di bawah Maksud B11 Perkhidmatan Am Perbendaharaan, Aktiviti 021700 KL International Airport Berhad (KLIAB)” that were entrusted to them.
The two men were also jointly accused of committing CBT of RM1.3 billion that were entrusted to them under the Federal Consolidated Fund under “Maksud B11 Perkhidmatan Am Perbendaharaan, Aktiviti 020500 Subsidi Dan Bantuan Tunai”, belonging to the Government of Malaysia.
On the fifth and sixth charges, they were allegedly committed CBT of CNY1,950,000,000 (RM1.26 billion) and RM2 billion, respectively, belonging to the government.
Najib and Mohd Irwan were alleged to have committed all the offences at the Finance Ministry Complex in Putrajaya between Dec 21, 2016, and Dec 18, 2017.
They were charged under Section 409 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 34 of the same Code, which provides for a maximum jail term of 20 years and whipping, and liable fine, if found guilty. – Bernama
