Ad hoc prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram told High Court judge Zaini Mazlan that the prosecution had called all its witnesses, including Arul Kanda, to testify.
A total of 16 witnesses, including former auditors-general Ambrin Buang and Madinah Mohamad, had given evidence since the trial started on Nov 18, 2019.
“We are offering 18 witnesses to the defence,” Sri Ram said.
Among the witnesses offered are former Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairmen Nur Jazlan Mohamed and Hasan Arifin as well as former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi, former deputy public prosecutor Dzulkifli Ahmad, and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigating officer Nur Aida Arifin.
Najib is accused of abusing his power to obtain immunity from legal action and causing amendments to the finalised 1MDB audit report prior to it being tabled before the PAC. Arul Kanda is accused of abetting Najib.
The former prime minister, who was taken to Kajang prison last month to serve his sentence over the SRC International corruption case, was present in court today.
Zaini ordered both the prosecution and defence to file their submissions before Oct 7 and for further replies to be done by Oct 14.
“Both prosecution and defence are to appear before the court on Oct 28,” the judge said.
Arul Kanda’s lawyer N Sivananthan told the court they would be addressing the court – through written submissions – on whether indemnity should be offered to him (Arul Kanda).
Zaini said he would give his ruling later on whether the court would grant Arul Kanda a full acquittal or a discharge from his abetment charge.
The court previously allowed the prosecution’s bid to call Arul Kanda to testify on its behalf. He told the court that Najib had instructed him to attend a meeting on Feb 24, 2016 to discuss amendments to the report.
Arul Kanda had said Najib also expressed concern that the contents of the report could be spun from a political perspective.
During the trial, the court had heard that Ambrin and his national audit department officers had conducted an audit on 1MDB from March 9, 2015 to March 4, 2016.
They were supposed to table the findings before the PAC on Feb 24, 2016, but the meeting with the PAC members did not take place.
Instead, Ambrin and several officers were told to attend a meeting at the office of the then chief secretary to the government, Ali Hamsa, on the same day.
The others present were Arul Kanda, Najib’s principal private secretary at the time, Shukry Mohd Salleh, senior treasury officials and an official from the Attorney-General’s Chambers.
After the meeting, four items were removed from the report. These involved two 2014 financial statements, the issuance of Islamic medium-term notes, the Islamic bonds’ secondary subscriber, and Low Taek Jho’s (Jho Low) presence at 1MDB board meetings.