KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Razak has cried foul over "unfair news reporting" by the media in their coverage of the former prime minister's 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) corruption trial.
Najib's lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said the defence planned to initiate contempt proceedings against several media outlets next week.
However, deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib defended the news reports, saying they were only quoting the witness's testimony.
Shafee raised this issue during proceedings before judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah after news outlets had, on Tuesday, quoted a witness claiming that Najib had used the US$618 million linked to 1MDB to influence votes during the 2013 General Election in 2013 (GE13).
The claim was made by Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) senior officer Nur Aida Arifin, who was the trial's 49th prosecution witness.
Shafee said the articles were prejudicial and unfair reporting. This, he said, was because of US$620 million from the US$681 million had been returned to its sender.
"Never in my 46 years of experience as a lawyer have I seen an investigating officer give this kind of statement in a trial.
"She is drawing a conclusion as if writing a judgment from the judge... she tries to give an opinion, which is all hearsay," he said during a press conference today.
Shafee said there was never any proof that the money was used to influence GE13.
"There is only evidence that the money was used by various Umno divisions and for corporate social responsibility efforts.
"My client didn't use it for personal use. It was given to Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) for election expenses... not for buying votes," he said.
However, deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib said the prosecution cannot control media reports.
He also argued that the media was only reporting what Aida was saying, in which she had referred to a report lodged with MACC in 2015, which claimed that funds from 1MDB were used to buy votes during GE13.
"The report was based on Nur Aida's testimony over a report made against Najib.
"We cannot control how they (the media) write their reports... it is beyond us.
"It is not fair for the defence to pin allegations against us that we are doing funny things here," he said.
Akram also argued that the MACC was legally bound to protect the identity of the complainant.
"When it comes to filing a report (for the record) it will be done by an officer, not the complainant," he said.
Akram added he will make amendments to Aida's witness statement, including inserting references to documents to be adduced into evidence, by Jan 8.
The defence, all this while, had argued that Nur Aida's testimony was hearsay as she had drawn various conclusions about the case.
However, the court told the defence to include this in their submissions at the end of the prosecution case.
Najib, 70, is facing four charges of using his position to obtain bribes totalling RM2.3 billion from 1MDB funds and 21 charges of money laundering involving the same amount.
The trial continues.