KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Arul Kanda Kandasamy walk free from the power abuse case involving the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) audit report.
Justice Mohamed Zaini Mazlan, who has been elevated to the appellate court recently, acquitted and discharged the duo after the prosecution failed to prove a prima facie case against the accused.
Najib is accused of using his position as then prime minister to instruct for the final audit report on 1MDB to be amended before it was presented to the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC), while Arul Kanda, the former 1MDB chief executive officer, is charged with abetting Najib in making the amendments to the report.
The offense was allegedly committed at the Prime Minister's Department Complex, Federal Government Administrative Centre, Putrajaya between Feb 22 and 26, 2016.
Both of them were charged under Section 23 (1) of the MACC Act, which provides for a jail term of up to 20 years and a fine of no less than five times the amount of gratification or RM10,000, whichever is higher, upon conviction.
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