KUALA LUMPUR: Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today refused to the enter the dock during his case management proceeding on the 25 corruption charges involving RM2.3 billion allegedly from sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) at the Sessions Court, here, today.
Najib who arrived at about 11.40am was ushered into the courtroom by several Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officers and sat on a chair next to the dock.
Policemen manning the courtroom then approached Najib when the proceeding started and politely asked him to enter the dock, however, he refused.
The prosecution team led by deputy public prosecutor Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram, then signaled the policemen to ask Najib to enter the dock.
However, Najib did not move and remained seated on his chair until the end of the 15-minute proceeding.
According to Deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib, Najib should have sat in the dock as he was the accused and not the person being summoned in this case.
Earlier, Judge Azura Alwi fixed Nov 27 for the case to be mentioned in the High Court.
Sri Ram during the proceeding said there were still several documents to be served to the defence.
“There are about 20 per cent of documents for the money laundering case and 15 per cent of documents for the graft case,” he said.
Akram when met after the proceeding said the prosecution had submitted 23 documents relating to the money laundering case to the court.
“We also submitted 367 documents for the ‘predicate charges’ including 1MDB minutes of meetings to the court,” he said.
On Sept 20, the Pekan member of parliament was slapped with a total 25 corruption charges involving RM2.3 billion allegedly from 1MDB.
His first four charges were under Section 23 (1) and 24 (1) of the MACC Act 2009 while the other 21 charges were under Section 4 (1) (a) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act 2001 (AMLATFA).
In the charges under the MACC Act, Najib, 64, was accused of using his then position as prime minister, finance minister and chairman of the 1MDB advisory board, to receive bribes on four occasions.
Meanwhile the money-laundering charges include nine counts of receiving illegal proceeds, five counts of using illegal proceeds and seven counts of transferring the proceeds to other entities.
All the offences allegedly occurred at AmIslamic Bank Bhd’s Jalan Raja Chulan branch in Bukit Ceylon, here, between Feb 24, 2011 and Dec 19, 2014.