Najib and Rosmah can skip trial, court rules
By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal, The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 6 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his wife need not testify in the Sodomy II trial, the High Court ruled today.
Judge Datuk Mohd Zabidin Mohd Diah said that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s lawyers had failed to prove “relevancy” in issuing a subpoena to the prime minister and Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor to testify in the trial.
Lawyers acting for Najib and Rosmah have argued that the duo are not relevant witnesses to Anwar’s ongoing sodomy trial and that they would not be able to offer any material evidence to the court.
But Anwar’s lawyers have argued otherwise, saying Najib’s testimony could shed light on the disposition of the opposition leader’s accuser in the days leading up to the alleged incident.
Defence counsel Karpal Singh asserted that as the prime minister had met Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan on the night of July 24 — two days before the latter accused Anwar of sodomising him — Najib’s account of the meeting would “go a long way” in assisting the court.
