Ad hoc prosecutor V Sithambaram told trial judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali the application was made under Sections 145 and 155 of the Evidence Act.

The prosecution contends that Najib, who is on the witness stand, had given conflicting statements to MACC and in court with regards to three minutes of shareholders’ resolutions in 2012 and a letter of instruction to Ambank in 2014

Sithambaram told Nazlan it was now for the court to decide whether Najib ought to be impeached.

“If it is a minor contradiction, the court can dismiss it and we can continue to cross-examine the witness (Najib),” he said.

However, if the court finds the contradiction is material, then the accused has a duty to explain, Sithambaram added.

Defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah objected to the application as the procedure was not in accordance with decisions made by the courts.

“The prosecution should have applied for the impeachment proceeding a long time ago,” he said, adding that Najib had explained the differences when under examination by him and also when cross-examined by the prosecution earlier.

Shafee said Najib gave a different answer in court because the MACC officers never showed him the original documents, especially with regard to the authenticity of his signatures.

He said the application was not genuine as it was made to debunk his client’s application to call a handwriting expert to decide whether his signatures in bank and SRC documents were forged.

That application will be heard tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the proceeding has broken for recess to allow both parties to make submissions on whether to allow the impeachment application.

Najib is accused of abusing his power as prime minister by giving government guarantees on SRC International’s RM4 billion loan from Retirement Fund Inc.

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.