Judge Zaini Mazlan said he was satisfied that the prosecution’s application was in order.

“The prosecution has given its grounds for the application and the defence is not prejudiced,” he said.

Arul Kanda, who is charged with abetting former prime minister Najib Razak over alleged abuse of power concerning 1MDB’s final audit report, is expected to testify shortly.

The prosecution had applied to call him as its witness under Section 63 of the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) Act at the commencement of the trial.

The provision states that whenever two or more persons are charged with an offence, the court may, on an application in writing by the public prosecutor, require one or more of them to give evidence as a witness or witnesses for the prosecution.

It is the first time that this provision will be utilised by the prosecution since the MACC Act came into force in 2009.

The prosecution said it wanted to call Arul Kanda to testify on its behalf as he had information in his possession that is relevant to Najib’s charge on a Feb 24, 2016 meeting and the events that preceded and followed after.

Najib’s lead counsel, Shafee Abdullah, has objected, citing prejudice to his client.

Arul Kanda’s counsel, N Sivananthan, had said his client will stand by his statement given to MACC in 2018.

Najib is standing trial for alleged abuse of power as the then prime minister and finance minister in February 2016 to obtain immunity from legal action and causing amendments to the finalised 1MDB audit report before it was tabled at a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meeting.