Court ‘no’ to Najib’s bid for documents linked to Zeti’s family, Jho Low

(FMT) – The High Court has turned down former prime minister Najib Razak’s bid to obtain documents related to companies controlled by Zeti Akhtar Aziz’s family and fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho for his 1MDB trial.

Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah said the application to obtain the documents was premature.

“I do not see how the bank documents, related to the funds her (Zeti’s) family received, are relevant to the defence’s advance,” he said this morning.

Sequerah said the documents sought by Najib to question Zeti’s credibility as then Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor “amount to a collateral attack”.

“Counsel can confront her (Zeti) when she is called to the witness stand later,” he said.

The court also turned down Najib’s other application to obtain former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner’s mobile phone records, saying the prosecution had made it clear it did not have the documents in its possession.

“The prayers in the notice of motion to obtain the phone records are not capable of enforcement.

“It is in evidence that the phone records that the accused (Najib) is seeking for are not part of the prosecution’s case against him and thus the prosecution is not obliged to furnish these documents, which are not part of their case, to the defence,” Sequerah said.

On Najib’s attempt to secure a copy of the settlement agreement between the government and Goldman Sachs, he said the information sought by the defence was not specified.

Putrajaya reached a settlement with Goldman Sachs in July last year that would see the country getting back US$3.9 billion (RM16.63 billion).

“This amounts to a ‘fishing expedition’ which is not allowed under the law,” the judge said.

Najib is standing trial on 25 charges for abuse of power and money laundering over alleged 1MDB funds amounting to RM2.28 billion deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.

The trial will resume on Aug 17.