“I allow the application for the request for the witness to refresh his memory by referring to statements he gave to MACC under Section 159 of the Evidence Act 1950,” trial judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali said.
The trial was also adjourned to allow the prosecution to produce Suboh’s statement, given last year.
Nazlan’s ruling followed Suboh’s admission under cross-examination that his signature might have been forged to authorise 17 transactions involving millions of ringgit with SRC International, Gandingan Mentari Sdn Bhd and Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd.
During examination by deputy public prosecutor Ishak Mohd Yusoff, however, Suboh told the court that the signatures on the documents were his.
During cross-examination yesterday which continued this morning, the defence suggested that all of Suboh’s signatures on the 17 scanned copies to AmBank were identical.
Lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah also suggested that someone, including former SRC International CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, could have forged Suboh’s signature.
The defence also showed the court that Suboh’s signatures on the hard copies on which the scanned copies were based were not the same.
Suboh was agreeable to the suggestions put forward by Shafee.
Today, Shafee asked Suboh who told him to admit in court that the signatures on the 17 documents were his.
Suboh replied that it was the prosecution.
Shafee then said he had reliable information that Suboh had told MACC that the signatures were not his, to which Suboh said he could not remember.
Shafee asked if Suboh would be able to recall if the MACC statement was shown to him. Suboh said he might be able to.
At this point, Shafee applied to Nazlan under Section 159 of the Evidence Act to allow Suboh to refresh his memory pending further cross-examination.
Ad hoc prosecutor V Sithambaram objected, saying Section 159 does not apply in this case.
“The event (bank transactions) occurred in 2014 and 2015 but the statement was given last year.
“During the intervening period, the witness suffered a stroke (in 2017) and therefore his recollection might not be perfect,” he said.
Najib is facing six charges of money laundering and criminal breach of trust in the transfer of RM42 million to his account from SRC International, a former unit of 1MDB.
He is also accused of abusing his power as prime minister by giving government guarantees on SRC International’s RM4 billion loan from Retirement Fund Inc.
The Pekan MP was charged with committing the offences at AmIslamic Bank Bhd on Jalan Raja Chulan and the Prime Minister’s Office in Putrajaya between Aug 17, 2011 and Feb 10, 2015.