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High Court dismisses Najib's application to strike out charges, trial to go on
Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali ruled that the charges against the former premier were not structured in a way that could mislead or prejudice him, to the point he could not put up a proper defence.
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Malaysia's former prime minister Najib Razak arrives at the Kuala Lumpur High Court for his trial over 1MDB corruption allegations in Kuala Lumpur on April 15, 2019. (AFP/-)
The High Court has dismissed Najib Razak’s application to strike out the charges in his corruption trial.
Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali ruled that the charges against the former premier were not structured in a way that could mislead or prejudice him, to the point he could not put up a proper defence.
"For the following broad reasons, this application is denied," he said.
Last Friday, Najib's defence lawyers argued that the charges could prejudice the case as they lacked clarity and clashed with each other.
Defence lawyer Kamarul Hisham Kamaruddin added the charges of corruption were at odds with each other and could not be tried concurrently with CBT.
Referring to the RM42mil at the heart of Najib's charges, Kamarul Hisham said the money could not be both gratification and money obtained via a breach of trust.
Ad hoc prosecutor V. Sithambaram replied that the charges were not vague, as it should be read together with supplementary documents furnished by the prosecution as per Section 51A of Criminal Procedure Code.
He added that Parliament created specific laws for different crimes, so it was fair bring charges under each law.
On July 4, last year, Najib claimed trial to a charge of abuse of power and three counts of CBT linked to the 1MDB scandal.
On Aug 8, he appeared in court again for the second time and was charged with three counts of money laundering involving the same RM42mil.
