IPIC trial to begin on November 14.
The High Court today rejected requests from former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and former Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah to be granted a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) or to be temporarily freed from all six charges in a trial involving RM6.6 billion of government funds.
High Court judge Datuk Muhammad Jamil Hussin said the trial which had been scheduled to finally begin this morning cannot be continued.
The judge noted that the prosecution has yet to deliver all documents to the defence to enable Najib’s and Mohd Irwan Serigar’s lawyers to give their defence statements to the prosecution before trial begins.
But the judge also rejected Najib’s and Mohd Irwan Serigar’s DNAA requests and ordered the trial to begin on November 14 without any further delays.
This is the second time Najib and Irwan Serigar applied for DNAA in this case. The High Court had on March 3, 2022, rejected their first DNAA attempt.
In October 2018, Najib and Irwan Serigar pled not guilty to six charges of CBT amounting to RM6.6 billion in government funds, involving payments to International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) that were also said to be linked to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
Najib and Mohd Irwan Serigar were jointly accused of committing all the offences at the Finance Ministry Complex, Putrajaya between December 21, 2016, and December 18, 2017.
They were charged under Section 409 of the Penal Code read together with Section 34 of the same code which provides for a maximum of 20 years in jail and whipping as well as a fine upon conviction.