PROSECUTION HAS NO CONTROL OVER DECLASSIFICATION OF DOCUMENTS FOR USE IN TRIAL - DPP

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 25 (Bernama) -- The High Court here was told today that the prosecution does not have control over classified documents that will be declassified before being used in the trial of criminal breach of trust (CBT) charges faced by Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and former Treasury Secretary-General Tan Sri Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah.

The classified documents are related to the trial concerning six charges of CBT involving the Malaysian Government’s assets amounting to RM6.6 billion against Najib and Mohd Irwan, in connection with payments to the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC).

Deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Muhammad Saifuddin Hashim Musaimi said the documents involved were from Cabinet meetings, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Energy and Water Transition and Transformation (PETRA), and the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) (now the Land Public Transport Agency - APAD) under the Road Transport Department.

“For the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Energy and Water Transition and Transformation, the documents are still in the process of being declassified. As for SPAD, since the commission has been dissolved, we have been informed that the documents are no longer in their possession.

“The declassification process for documents that are confidential and classified is not under the control of the prosecution and is subject to the relevant agencies that hold the documents, whether they can be declassified or not,” said Muhammad Saifuddin.

Earlier, Datuk Seri K. Kumaraendran, the lawyer representing Mohd Irwan, requested that his client be granted a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA), citing that the case had been ongoing for six years since it was first mentioned in court in 2018, but the prosecution still failed to provide the documents requested by the defence.

“The court has fixed the date for hearing but we are unable to proceed because most of the important documents were not given to us and we are not able to conduct a fair trial.

“This is the third time we are requesting for a DNAA because the court has given ample time for the prosecution and looking at the circumstances, I pray for the court to grant my client an order of DNAA,” he said.

In extension to Kumaraendran's submission, Najib's counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah also requested for his client to be DNAA.

“The volume of the case faced by my client can be equated to carpet bombing and it has stretched the defence and Datuk Seri Najib to breaking point. 

“He is appearing in court every week. We are equally ‘carpet-bombed,’ preparing cases, some of which are unusually difficult to handle,” he said.

The submission before Justice Datuk Muhammad Jamil Hussin continues on Nov 27.

On Oct 24, 2018, Najib and Mohd Irwan pleaded not guilty to the six charges of CBT involving the Malaysian Government’s assets amounting to RM6.6 billion, in connection with payments to IPIC.

They were alleged to have committed the offence at the Ministry of Finance Complex, Putrajaya, between Dec 21, 2016, and Dec 18, 2017, under Section 409 of the Penal Code which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, whipping, and a possible fine, upon conviction.

-- BERNAMA