Ad hoc prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram made the remark in objecting to the line of questioning by the defence in its cross-examination of former 1MDB chief executive Mohd Hazem Abdul Rahman, who has been on the witness stand since Sept 14 last year.

Najib’s lawyer Wan Aizuddin Wan Mohammed had earlier asked Hazem about the US$975 million loan that 1MDB took in 2014, saying that the money was not used for its original purpose of buying back the 49% shares from Aabar Investment.

Wan Aizuddin questioned if Hazem’s management team had misled the then company directors, to which Hazem said he was not sure.

Sri Ram chimed in, saying, “The witness (Hazem) is not on trial.”

Wan Aizuddin told High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah that the defence wanted to advance its case that there was mismanagement in 1MDB and that it was caused by Hazem, former company chief financial officer Azmi Tahir and former executive Geh Choh Heng.

“We agreed to this fact (on mismanagement). The affairs of 1MDB were run along the line of a Chinese coffee shop in Petaling Street,” Sri Ram said.

“But our case is that these people (1MDB staff) acted on Jho Low’s instruction and Jho Low was the accused’s (Najib) alter ego,” he added, referring to fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho.

In his opening statement, Sri Ram had said Low was Najib’s “mirror image” and the prosecution would establish that both of them acted as one at all material times.

Wan Aizuddin, however, contended that mismanagement in 1MDB was “perpetrated by Low” and Najib was never involved.

“We also have difficulty with this witness (Hazem) because sometimes he says he doesn’t remember,” he added.

Sequerah said the events in 1MDB took place almost 10 years ago, and told the defence to move on to another issue if Hazem said he could not remember.

Najib is standing trial on 25 charges of abuse of power and money laundering over alleged 1MDB funds amounting to RM2.28 billion deposited in his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.

The hearing continues.