Court dismisses application by Najib, Mohd Irwan for DNAA

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here today dismissed an application by Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and former Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah for them to be given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) on six counts of criminal breach of trust (CBT) amounting to RM6.6 billion involving the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) .

Judge Datuk Muhammad Jamil Hussin said the court dismissed the applications on grounds that the prosecution was ready for the trial.

"The trial dates, for 32 days, from September 2021 have been set before, but were vacated at the request of the prosecution and it was objected by the defence.

"An application for a discharge not amounting to an acquittal under Section 254 of the Criminal Procedure Code can only be allowed if the prosecution does not intend to continue the case," he said and set April 1 to 4, 8-11 and throughout May next year as the new trial dates for the case.

Najib, 68, and Mohd Irwan, 63, applied for the DNAA today during the case management on the grounds that they were charged in 2018 but had not been tried until now.

Earlier, lawyer Wan Aizuddin Wan Mohammed, representing Najib, submitted that his client had not been tried yet and the case was still pending despite him being charged four years ago.

"We also applied for several documents from the prosecution according to Section 51A of the Criminal Procedure Code, but there were not completed yet. Therefore, we applied for our client to be given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal," he added.

Lawyer Datuk K. Kumaraendran, represented Mohd Irwan, said he did not doubt the court process or the prosecution, but the case facing his client was still pending and had been mentioned 14 times in court since October 2018.

"This case has been suspended because there is no suitable hearing date as the first accused, Datuk Seri Najib, is being tried in several different courts and we have received information from his lawyer, the only available date is in 2023," he added.

Deputy public prosecutor Muhammad Saifuddin Hashim Musaimi, however, objected to the application on the grounds that it was unfair for the court to allow the two accused to be discharged but not amounting to an acquittal at this stage (before the trial).

He said the prosecution was ready to conduct the case, where it had submitted documents three times under Section 51A and in accordance with the provisions of the law, the defence could submit additional documents, if any, before the trial.

"The public prosecutor represents 34 million members of the public who want to see this case go to trial. They cannot be given a DNAA just like that. We are ready to prove the charges against the two accused," he added.

On Oct 24, 2018, Najib and Mohd Irwan pleaded not guilty to six charges of CBT amounting to RM6.6 billion in government funds involving payments to International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC).

Najib and Mohd Irwan Serigar were jointly accused of committing all the offences at the Finance Ministry Complex, Putrajaya between Dec 21, 2016, and Dec 18, 2017.

They were charged under Section 409 of the Penal Code read together with Section 34 of the same code which provides for a maximum of 20 years jail and whipping as well as fine upon conviction.

-- BERNAMA