News by Emir Zainul

During examination-in-chief today, Mohd Hazem Abdul Rahman, who is testifying against former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in the 1MDB-Tanore trial as the 10th prosecution witness, said he received a salary of RM93,000 a month as chief operating officer (COO) when he first joined 1MDB in August 2012. Mohd Hazem said that when he was promoted to chief executive officer (CEO) in March 2013, he received a salary of RM97,000. Furthermore, during his tenure, he received a five-month bonus in his first year when he was COO and a 10-month bonus when he was CEO.

This was due to the fact that KPMG had found out that Najib, as 1MDB’s shareholder, was aware of 1MDB’s bogus investments in Brazen Sky Ltd, a company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands by Low Taek Jho (Jho Low), Mohd Hazem told the court during Najib's 1MDB-Tanore graft trial.

Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had used part of the US$3 billion raised by 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) — initially intended for the development of the Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) — to acquire land in Ayer Itam, Penang as part of Umno’s campaigning leading up to the 2013 General Elections (GE13), the High Court heard today. According to former 1MDB chief executive officer Mohd Hazem Abdul Rahman, who is currently testifying as the 10th prosecution witness in the 1MDB-Tanore trial, the land was to be utilised to build an affordable housing development.

Of the 47 new cases, two were imported cases and the other 45 were local transmitted infections. Thirty-one cases were recorded in Sabah, whereby 22 cases were from the Benteng Lahad Datu (LD) cluster. Meanwhile, 13 new cases were recorded from the Tawar cluster in Kedah.

In Sabah, 44 of the new 48 cases came from the Benteng Lahad Datu cluster involving 21 foreigners, while another three cases came from a newly detected Laut cluster.

High Court judge Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali also found the former premier not to be remorseful over the charges he (Najib) is facing.

The initial trial dates are March 1 to March 5, said lawyer Sangeet Kaur Deo, who appeared for the DAP lawmaker at the case management today. The case has been set to go to trial after both parties failed to reach an out-of-court settlement last year.

Once a darling stock on Bursa Malaysia, Transmile was caught in an Enron-esque accounting scandal in 2007 after auditors concluded that the results for the financial years ended December 2005 and 2006 were grossly overstated.

The DAP secretary-general claimed that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) was unprofessional for leaking the information that he will be facing new charges to the press before he was notified on the matter.

The two charges under Section 403 of the Penal Code are for dishonest misappropriation of property.