PUTRAJAYA, April 23 — Goldman Sachs’ former banker Roger Ng — who had previously been convicted in the US over the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal and is now in Malaysia — will be testifying in former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1MDB trial tomorrow morning, Najib’s lawyer said.
Najib’s lead defence lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah informed the High Court this afternoon about this.
“Just to inform Yang Arif, in view of certain developments at the interview, we initially thought of asking Yang Arif to consider the 5th. But Yang Arif already indicated, Roger Ng, we will start tomorrow morning at our request,” Shafee told 1MDB trial judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah.
This comes after Najib’s lawyers interviewed Ng ahead of his expected court testimony.
Earlier today, the judge had ruled that Ng can still testify today in Najib’s 1MDB trial in Malaysia, despite an existing US court order imposing restrictions on Ng.
The High Court in Kuala Lumpur had previously issued a subpoena or a court order — as requested by Najib — to compel Ng to testify as a defence witness in the 1MDB trial.
So far, 23 persons including Najib himself, had testified as defence witnesses in the 1MDB trial. Some of these witnesses had testified on subpoena.
After Shafee’s update to the High Court regarding Ng, the Kuala Lumpur courts’ deputy registrar Nurul Ain Hamzah resumed her testimony as the 21st defence witness.
Nurul Ain confirmed that a video recording shown to her was of a High Court in Kuala Lumpur’s January 9, 2023 proceedings where Ng was granted discharge not amounting to acquittal (DNAA) in a criminal case.
As there were no other defence witnesses available to testify today, the 1MDB trial then concluded and will resume tomorrow.
