KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Razak's lawyer had a field day grilling a star prosecution witness today, challenging the authenticity and procedures of the evidence produced in the trial.
Lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, all this while, had objected to Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) senior superintendent Nur Aida Arifin's testimony, arguing that most of it was hearsay.
The senior lawyer consistently raised objections each time Aida, who was also the investigating officer of the case, read a few paragraphs from her 90-page witness statement a few weeks ago.
At the outset of today's proceedings, Shafee began his questioning about the evidence received from Singapore via mutual legal assistance (MLA), noting that most of the documents were received after Najib was charged in 2018.
Aida said the MACC through the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) had requested the documents prior to the charges.
She explained that she did not personally receive the documents from the republic, as there was a deputy public prosecutor responsible for handling MLA documents from different countries.
Shafee: These are loose documents... there are no guarantees that they have not been tampered with.
Nur Aida: I agree. The documents were not bound in any particular way... same with evidence we received from Switzerland.
Shafee later delved into the procedure of how the evidence was gathered, asserting that it did not adhere to the typical procedure, in which the witness agreed.
Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib said the prosecution is ready to submit on the admissibility of some documents tendered through Nur Aida.
However, Shafee objected by arguing that he needs to cross-examine the witness first before submitting due to the complexity of the issue, especially on the MLA.
Najib is standing trial on 25 charges of abuse of power and money laundering over alleged 1MDB funds amounting to RM2.28 billion deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.
The hearing continues.