Najib Razak to meet Malaysia's king after SRC trial adjournment
25 February, 2020
Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak is scheduled to meet up the king at Istana Negara on Tuesday (Feb 25), his legal professional Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said, after his corruption trial was adjourned to another day.
“Datuk Seri Najib must leave the court premises to PWTC by 10.30am for a gathering before going to Istana,” he told Justice Nazlan Mohd Ghazali at the High Court, according to Malay Mail.
Earlier, Najib’s corruption trial, involving RM42 million from SRC International Sdn Bhd, was adjourned to Wednesday following the defence informed the court a witness statement for a company director that they had subpoenaed has yet to be finalised.
Najib’s legal professional Farhan Read said the witness, Rosman Abdullah, who's associated with Putra Perdana Construction, would want another day to complete his witness statement, the Malaysian Insight reported.
Justice Nazlan then adjourned the proceedings to 2.30pm on Wednesday.
Najib was hauled to court following Barisan Nasional’s massive defeat in the May 2018 polls, which saw the rise of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition and the return of Dr Mahathir Mohamad as the top of government.
Claiming responsibility, Najib stepped down as the president of United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) shortly after.
The four-party PH, however, fell into turmoil this week with Dr Mahathir tendering his resignation as prime minister and chairman of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), which had earlier pulled out of PH.
Mr Azmin Ali led an exodus of 11 members of parliament from Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) to create an unbiased bloc in the parliament.
These actions were viewed as efforts to avoid Mr Anwar Ibrahim, president of PKR, from overtaking as the next prime minister.
There is growing speculation that another coalition, comprising Bersatu, United Malays National Organisation, Parti Islam Se-Malaysia and others, will be formed.
UMNO secretary-general Annuar Musa confirmed to Malay Mail on Tuesday that his party has formed a coalition with several others plus they would be seeking an audience with the king later in the afternoon.
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