00:00The prosecution has resorted to hearsay evidence annexed on a deceased person
00:05to build its case against Datuk Seri Najib Razak in the RM2.28 billion Malaysia-development Berhad Graft case
00:13the Kuala Lumpur High Court heard on Thursday.
00:16Lead Defence Counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafi Abdullah, in his submissions,
00:20said the prosecution made a substantial dependence on a multitude of hearsay statements
00:26from witnesses who did not experience the events firsthand.
00:29He said numerous statements allegedly made by Najib's former Principal Private Secretary
00:34Datuk Azlin Alias, who died in a helicopter crash in 2015, were echoed by witnesses to assert
00:41that Najib was the decision-maker for the transactions in 1MDB.
00:46During the trial, the court heard testimony from Najib's former special officer
00:51Datuk Amhari Effendi Nazaruddin, who claimed to have heard from Azlin.
00:56Without Azlin's presence, the defence contended that it remained unknown
01:01whether Najib gave such instructions, or whether these were mere fabrication by Azlin,
01:07who could have been colluding with fugitive businessman Low Taik Jo, or better known as Jo Low.
01:13The defence also contended that any statements attributed to Azlin and repeated by the witnesses
01:19cannot be verified for accuracy, making them hearsay and therefore inadmissible.
01:24Najib is on trial for 25 charges in total,
01:27four for abuse of power and 21 for money laundering involving the same amount of money.
01:33The hearing before Justice Colin Lawrence Sequeira continues.
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