Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and former treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Dr Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah have failed in their bid to dismiss their six criminal breach of trust charges amounting to RM6.6 billion.
This came about after High Court judge Datuk Muhammad Jamil Hussin today struck out their application to be discharged not amounting to acquittal (DNAA) for all charges.
The two made the application when there were no updates of the proceedings after they were charged three years ago.
Jamil in his ruling said the prosecution in the case was ready with charges, however, only the trial date had not been set by the court.
He said the previous trial date had been set for 32 days between September and October last year.
However, the prosecution applied for postponement and it was not objected by the defence’s counsel.
“The defence can apply for DNAA if the prosecution does not intend to continue the prosecution.
“In this case, the prosecution is ready with their case… (it’s) just that we have yet to fix the trial dates,” he said.
Meanwhile, deputy public prosecutor Muhammad Saifuddin Hashim Musaimi told the court that the prosecution was expected to call 70 witnesses to testify in this case.
The court then ordered the trial to commence on April 1.
On the first and second counts, Najib, 65, and Irwan, 61, were charged with committing CBT on a RM1.2 billion and RM655 million government property which was entrusted to them with dominion over it (property).
On the third and fourth counts, they were alleged to have committed CBT on a RM220 million and RM1.3 billion property entrusted to them with dominion over it in the Federal Consolidated Fund “Belanja Mengurus di bawah Maksud B11 Perkhidmatan Am Perbendaharaan, Aktiviti 021700 KL International Airport Bhd (KLIAB)” belonging to the government.
For the fifth and sixth charges, they were alleged to have committed CBT on a 1,950,000,000.00 yuan (RM1.26 billion) and RM2 billion government property which was entrusted to them with dominion over it.
They were charged under Section 409 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 34 of the same Code, which provides for a maximum jail term of 20 years and whipping, and liable to fine, if found guilty. – NST