The prosecution in the case of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and former Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah, who are facing six counts of criminal breach of trust (CBT) involving RM6.6 billion, had listed about 138 witnesses but would only call 70 of them.
The list of witnesses was presented during the first case management at the Kuala Lumpur High Court today before Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, who fixed the trial from July 8 until Aug 22.
Deputy public prosecutor Datuk Jamil Aripin also told Nazlan that the prosecution had served 80 per cent of the documents pertaining to the case to the defence team and had requested for one and half months to submit the balance as some of the documents were classified under the Official Secret Act.
“At this stage, we have surrendered 80 per cent of the documents and we undertake to serve the balance to the defence team the rest by Feb 15.
“We need time because some documents are classified under the Official Secret Act (OSA). We need more time for the declassification process,” he said.
Earlier, lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah representing Najib and Datuk Geethan Ram Vincent who acted for Irwan informed the court that pending the discovery of the documents, they would apply to recuse the judge as Nazlan had also heard Najib’s CBT and power abuse involving SRC International Sdn Bhd’s case.
Shafee said this was because of the nexus of all these charges as all the witnesses may be the same from the office of Prime Minister and Finance Minister.
He further said that there would be prejudice on the part of the judge in hearing the case.
Questioned by Nazlan, although the charges were different, Shafee replied:
“Yes, although the charges are different, there were nexus of all witnesses. How trained the judge is, we are still human being”.