KUALA LUMPUR: Former prime minister Najib Razak’s counsel, Shafee Abdullah, has raised 109 objections to the witness statement of former 1MDB president and CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi in 1MDB’s US$5.64 billion civil suit.
1MDB counsel Lee Shih told the High Court here today Shafee had served the plaintiffs with 109 objections to Shahrol’s 168-page witness statement on grounds that it contained hearsay and opinion.
Lee told judicial commissioner Redzuan Idrus his team needed time to study the objections before addressing them in court.
“At first glance, 80% of the objections seem to be allegations of hearsay. I see the word ‘hearsay’ repeated quite often,” he said.
Shahrol was scheduled to take the stand today after offshore asset recovery specialist Angela Barkhouse finished giving her testimony, but his testimony was postponed until tomorrow following the development.
According to 1MDB’s opening statement, Shahrol is expected to testify on the various phases of the alleged fraud.
1MDB is seeking to recover about US$5.64 billion from Najib and several other individuals, alleging that the funds were misappropriated.
The sovereign wealth fund and its four subsidiaries – 1MDB Energy Holdings Ltd, 1MDB Energy Ltd, 1MDB Energy (Langat) Ltd, and Global Diversified Investment Company Ltd – filed the suit on May 7, 2021.
The suit also names former 1MDB CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, former executive director of business development Casey Tang, and former deputy chief financial officer Terence Geh.
The other defendants are former chief investment officer Vincent Beng, former chief operating officer Radhi Mohamad, and former director of investments Kelvin Tan.
