KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court today dismissed Datuk Seri Najib Razak's bid to get hold of documents involving United States investment bank Goldman Sachs, former Bank Negara (BNM) governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz's family and fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho.
The former prime minister had sought for the prosecution to supply the documents deemed relevant to his trial over the misappropriation of RM2.28 billion of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) funds.
Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah in dismissing Najib's applications, said the documents the latter had sought were not relevant to the charges he was facing.
On the application for certain bank documents relating to the funds received by Zeti's family, Sequerah said this had amounted to a collateral attack on Zeti as a witness in the case.
Najib's lawyers had argued that the documents were pertinent to establish her credibility as the then BNM governor.
Sequerah said the integrity and credibility of Zeti was not an issue in the case.
"The counsel for the accused submitted that Zeti's credibility as BNM governor was compromised.
"However, the prosecution pointed out that Zeti was not the person on trial here and the application was premature because she has yet to be called as a witness.
"Therefore, I do not see how these bank documents mentioned in relation to the family members of Zeti are relevant to the defence's advance," the judge said.
He added that the documents sought for by the defence were not necessary and desirable for the purposes of the trial.
On the documents related to Goldman Sachs, Sequerah said the application is a 'fishing expedition' as the prosecution had made it clear that they do not have possession of the documents.
Najib's 1MDB trial before Sequerah is scheduled to resume on Aug 17.
On March 24, Najib filed for a court order to compel the prosecution to provide several banking statements involving the bank accounts of Zeti's family.
These were in relation to allegations that the family had received monies from Jho Low.
He filed his second application on April 7, seeking for the confidential settlement agreement between the government and the Goldman Sachs Group entered in 2020, transcripts or forensic report on the phones of former Goldman Sachs partner in Asia, Tim Leissner as well as the latter's communication and data stored on Goldman Sachs servers.
Najib, 68, is facing four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering involving RM2.28 billion funds from 1MDB.
He faces 20 years' jail and fine, if convicted.