Lawyer Wan Aizuddin Wan Mohamed said they were informed that Najib’s former principal private secretary, Ab Aziz Kasim, had passed away this morning.

He said Najib sought permission to attend the funeral and would only be available in the afternoon.

Aziz was Najib’s private secretary when Najib was the deputy prime minister. He continued to work with Najib from 2009 to 2014 when Najib became the prime minister.

Deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib said ad hoc prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram was informed about this and the prosecution left it to the court’s discretion.

Trial judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah then said the hearing would continue later.

Former 1MDB company secretary Goh Gaik Kim will resume her testimony today. The prosecution is also scheduled to call another former company secretary, Lim Poh Seng, and former chief secretary to the government Sidek Hassan as their next witnesses.

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