KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court set Aug 7 for its decision on Datuk Seri Najib Razak's application to strike out his 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) audit tampering charge after hearing arguments from his lawyers that the accusations were groundless.
Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan however ruled that hearing of the case will continue as usual pending his decision. The trial is set to resume on Monday.
The former premier contended that the amended charges involving his 1MDB audit tampering trial were flawed.
His lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah submitted that prosecution witnesses testimony so far was totally against what the charges stated and therefore his client should be acquitted and discharged.
"There is a serious defect in the amended charge, rendering it groundless. The prosecution has no glimmer of a hope to secure a conviction against my client.
"There is no case...why are they hassling my client. It is an abuse of process to put an accused through the hardships of a trial when the charge is pregnant with flaws," he said.
However, lead prosecutor Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram countered by saying that the trial was still in its preliminary stage and the prosecution should be allowed to produce all the evidence before the court makes its decision.
He also dismissed Shafee's arguments that the charges against Najib should be dropped based on settled cases by telling the judge that the references cited by the lawyer were inapplicable.
"The cases he cited are as useful to your lordship as footwear is to a limbless torso.
"Our charge says the accused abused his position to obtain gratification. The high test of oppression and abuse of process has not been met in their application to dismiss this charge," he said, much to the amusement of everyone in the courtroom.
Najib applied to strike out accusations of tampering with the audit report on the troubled state fund after prosecutors amended the charge last month.
The judge allowed prosecutors to change the wordings in Najib's charge sheet to allege that he, along with former 1MDB chief executive Arul Kanda Kandasamy, were involved in tampering with an audit report finalised by the Auditor General before it was finalised again and presented to the parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
The earlier charge sheet stated that both accused were involved in tampering with the audit report presented by the Auditor General before it was finalised and sent to the PAC.
Najib's lawyers have argued that the amended charge is not acceptable as a finalised report by definition cannot be revised.