KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 3 (NNN-BERNAMA) — Former 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) chief executive officer Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi concluded his testimony in Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s RM2.3 billion 1MDB graft trial today.
As the ninth prosecution witness, Shahrol Azral, 50, had been on the witness stand for 40 days since Sept 23 last year.
He was under examination-in-chief by the prosecution for six days beginning Sept 23, 2019, before being grilled by the defence team from Oct 7, 2019, until today. He was also re-examined by the prosecution today.
Just as Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah announced that he would be releasing the witness today, lawyer Wan Aizuddin Wan Mohammed told the court that the defence would recall Shahrol Azral following new documents produced to the witness as well as on other issues that arose during re-examination by lead prosecutor Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram.
“We need to conduct further cross-examine the witness….I am quite surprised by the respond of the witness because during cross-examination (by the defence team) he said he will not respond to hypothetical questions but now he answered…
“For the fairness of this trial, I humbly pray for us to be able to conduct further cross-examination on this witness,” said Wan Aizuddin.
Justice Sequerah said he was not rejecting the defence’s application but he wanted to move on to the next witness on Monday.
“I am not saying no to your application but when you feel you need to persist with the recall, we will allow the recall at any stage. If you want to renew it midway, you are at liberty to do so.
“So Datuk Shahrol, I can release your subject to be recalled, so we can proceed to the next witness,” the judge said.
Sri Ram then informed the court that the prosecution will call Shahrol Azral’s successor Mohd Hazem Abdul Rahman to testify on Monday.
Najib, 67, faces four charges of using his position to obtain bribes totalling RM2.3 billion from the 1MDB funds and 21 charges of money laundering involving the same amount.
The trial continues on Monday.
— NNN-BERNAMA
