1MDB audit tampering trial deferred for whole of this week due to CMCO

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 30): The 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) audit tampering trial involving former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and former 1MDB president Arul Kanda Kandasamy has been deferred for the whole of this week.

This follows the implementation of the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) since Oct 14 until the end of this week.

The trial will resume next week (Dec 7) at the High Court before Justice Mohamed Zaini Mazlan should the CMCO not be extended.

The postponement was confirmed by Arul Kanda's counsel Datuk N Sivananthan and DPP Mohamed Mustafa P Kunyalam to theedgemarkets.com.

Najib is charged with abuse of power for allegedly directing the 1MDB audit report prepared by the National Audit Department requested by the Public Accounts Committee while Arul Kanda is said to have abetted the former premier.

The former premier was alleged to have directed so between Feb 22 and 26, 2016.

Meanwhile, former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's money laundering, graft and criminal breach of trust trial before High Court Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah is also deferred for the whole of this week.

This was confirmed by DPP Datuk Raja Rozela Raja Toran, who leads the prosecution team.

A total of seven prosecution witnesses who are Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission investigating officers are scheduled to testify in the trial.

With this, the trial will resume on Jan 18 to 21 next year.

Ahmad Zahid, who is Umno president, is facing 47 charges, with 12 of them involving criminal breach of trust, eight for corruption and 27 for money laundering involving tens of millions of ringgit in funds belonging to Yayasan Akalbudi.

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