KUALA LUMPUR: The courtroom drama during Datuk Seri Najib Razak's 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) corruption trial continued today as the defence team locked horns with the prosecution by continuously challenging a star witness' statement, calling it hearsay.
Najib's lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah consistently raised objections each time Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) senior officer Nur Aida Arifin read a few paragraphs from her 90-page long witness statement.
The same scenario has been occurring since Nur Aida, who is also the investigating officer of the case, took the witness stand earlier this month.
Presiding judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah, who was not amused with the situation, also repeatedly interjected and reminded both parties to sit together and sort out the issue.
Shafee also aimed his criticism at several media agencies, describing their reporting of the case as biased.
To this, Sequerah — a Court of Appeal judge who is sitting as High Court judge — told Shafee that he cannot instruct journalists on their reporting methods as it was their prerogative.
However, the judge said the journalists can emphasise the perspective regarding Najib's defence objection to some of the witness statements on grounds of hearsay.
"I believe this may alleviate the defence's concerns. Perhaps journalists covering this trial can focus on what was conveyed.
"This is so that the issue does not arise again, and whatever the witness said, objections were raised by the defence on grounds of hearsay," he said.
Sequerah also instructed both parties to rework Nur Aida's conclusion after Shafee raised his objection before the witness had a chance to read it.
"If we cannot come up with a solution by Friday, then we have to read it (the witness statement) and note objections as we go," he said.
Earlier, Sequerah suggested taking Nur Aida's conclusion as read, but deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Ghraib disagreed.
Akram said there are some paragraphs in the witness statement that require the introduction of exhibits.
"We are unable to introduce the exhibits without her (Nur Aida) reading it out loud.
"Shafee will have a field day to cross-examine her. He can cross-examine her for however long," said Akram.
Najib is standing trial on 25 charges of 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 hearing continues on Friday.