The AGC said it had “no choice” but to wait for the conclusion of Najib’s trial in the 1MDB case before it could access overlapping documents needed for Najib’s trial in the second SRC case, involving RM27 million.
The AGC rejected allegations that it conducted a “flawed prosecution”, calling such claims entirely unfounded, and said it respected the High Court’s decision this morning to grant Najib a discharge not amounting to an acquittal.
This morning, High Court judge K Muniandy ruled that there was nothing to show that the prosecution would be able to proceed with the case within a reasonable time. The judge said there had been “a plethora of postponements” in the six years since the case was brought against Najib in 2019, indicating that the prosecution was not ready to prosecute the case.
Najib’s counsel, Shafee Abdullah, had submitted last week that it was unfair for his client to wait indefinitely for a fixed trial date.
The AGC said the delay in bringing the SRC case forward was necessary to ensure the integrity of certain documents as evidence. The documents were being used as evidence in the 1MDB trial and the prosecution had “no choice but to await the conclusion of that trial to access them”.
In a statement, the AGC noted that the second SRC case was registered at the High Court in February 2019 and was scheduled for trial five times between June 2020 and April-May 2025. The trial dates were postponed, either because of the Covid-19 pandemic or on applications by the defence or the prosecution.
The AGC said the prosecution’s applications were necessary as the first SRC trial was ongoing at the time until its conclusion in March 2023. Concurrently, the 1MDB trial had commenced, with both cases involving overlapping material documents intended to be used in the second SRC trial.
The AGC said that since those documents were being used as evidence in the ongoing 1MDB trial, the prosecution had “no choice but to await the conclusion of that trial to access them”.
The AGC said it respected the High Court’s decision and would thoroughly review and consider all aspects before determining any further action.