Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak leaves the High Court in Kuala Lumpur May 17,2021. — Picture by Miera Zulyana
KUALA LUMPUR, July 12 — The High Court today dismissed former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s two separate applications for the prosecution to provide documents related to companies under former Bank Negara Malaysia governor Tan Seri Zeti Akhtar Aziz’s family, as well as US investment bank Goldman Sachs’ documents in Hong Kong.
Najib sought these documents to defend himself against criminal charges in his ongoing trial involving more than RM2 billion of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) funds. His lawyer previously insisted that Najib’s defence was that he “genuinely” believed the huge sums of funds that flowed into his bank account came from Saudi Arabia.
In dismissing both applications today, High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah described Najib’s application for discovery of Goldman Sachs documents as a “fishing expedition”, news portal theedgemarkets.com reported.
In Najib’s first application filed on March 24, he asked for bank account statements from 2008 to 2020 for eight entities (companies linked to Zeti’s family — Iron Rhapsody Limited, Cutting Edge Industries Limited, companies linked to fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho — Aktis Capital Singapore Private Limited, Country Group Securities Public Company Limited, ACME Time Ltd (BVI), as well as Butamba Investment Limited, Central Holding Limited and law firm Sherman and Sterling LLC).
The Pekan MP also asked for company information of the eight entities such as their directors, their members, their beneficiary owners and records of their communications with banks on transactions and their accounts and other related bank documents.
In his second application filed on April 5, he asked for former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner’s Hong Kong mobile phones and these mobile phones’ transcript and passwords, data on Goldman Sach’s servers.
These included communications and data on Leissner’s work mobile phones, the 2020 settlement agreement between Goldman Sachs and the Malaysian government, all communications including correspondence between the Malaysian government and Attorney-General’s Chambers with Goldman Sachs.
Najib’s 1MDB trial, which is also before Sequerah, has recently been disrupted by the lockdowns due to the Covid-19 pandemic and also by his lead defence lawyer having to undergo Covid-19 quarantine.
The 1MDB trial is expected to resume on the next scheduled date of August 17.
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