Three of the cases are already ongoing and these include the one in which he is accused of abusing his power as prime minister by giving government guarantees on SRC International’s RM4 billion loan from Retirement Fund Inc.
In the first case, he is also charged with three counts of money laundering and three counts of criminal breach of trust in the transfer of RM42 million to his accounts from the former 1MDB unit.
The trial judge ordered him to enter his defence on Nov 11, and he is now giving evidence.
It is not clear how many witnesses the defence will call. The trial is scheduled to resume on Jan 6.
A source close to the prosecution team has told FMT he expected this trial to be over by the end of the first quarter of the year.
“The judge has ordered the defence to supply witness statements to the prosecution in order to expedite the trial,” he said.
In the second case, Najib faces four charges of using his position to obtain bribes totalling RM2.3 billion from 1MDB funds and 21 charges of money laundering involving the same amount.
This case, which was adjourned on Nov 13, is still at the prosecution stage with the defence still cross-examining former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi, the ninth prosecution witness. He has been on the witness stand since Sept 23.
In the third ongoing case, Najib is accused of using his position to obtain immunity from legal action in relation to allegations that he tampered with the 1MDB audit report in 2016.
Former 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy is charged with abetting him.
The latter two trials have been tentatively fixed for continued hearing on Jan 13, but they are likely to be postponed until the SRC case is completed.
In one of the two cases that have yet to be heard, Najib and former Treasury secretary-general Irwan Serigar Abdullah face six charges of criminal breach of trust involving RM6.6 billion in government funds. The trial date for this has been vacated to give way to the SRC case.
Najib is also facing three charges of money laundering involving RM27 million of SRC funds. The trial date for this case has been set for June.
Lawyer AG Kalidass said he expected some of the trials to take some time to complete because Najib has to be present in all of the proceedings.
“I expect one or two cases to spill into 2021,” he added.