KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Razak has called in sick today, causing his 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) trial to be postponed.
His lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah informed High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah that Najib was ill due to an infection on both his eyes and was unable to attend the proceedings.
“I received a call from my client and his wife at 7.15 in the morning.
“The news is conjunctivitis has revisited and I think it is because of an outing he went yesterday and the haze does not help,” Shafee said.
He said however, a copy of the medical certificate (MC) could only be handed over to the court and the prosecution after the former prime minister sees his specialist at 10.30am.
Lead prosecutor Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram had no objections to the case being adjourned.
Sequerah then allowed the adjournment and ordered for the defence to inform the court on how many days would Najib be on sick leave.
“If he gets leave today, trial shall continue tomorrow and if the medical report says two days, we will meet on Tuesday,” he said.
Today, Shafee was supposed to continue with his cross-examination of a key prosecution witness Datuk Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin, who is Najib’s former special officer.
Previously, Najib has been deemed to be medically unfit to attend his corruption trial involving the misappropriation of 1MDB subsidiary SRC International Sdn Bhd funds after he contracted conjunctivitis.
Najib, 66, is facing four charges of having used his position to obtain gratification totalling RM2.3 billion in 1MDB funds and 21 counts of money laundering involving the same money.