KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 6): Former 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) chief financial officer (CFO) Azmi Tahir is said to have a fever and cannot testify in his cross-examination at the 1MDB-Tanore trial involving former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak on Thursday (Jan 6).

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Ahmad Akram Gharib informed High Court judge Justice Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah that Azmi had gone to the clinic on Thursday morning and was given a medical leave certificate.

On Wednesday, the 12th prosecution witness was said to be having a headache and asked the judge to end the hearing slightly before 4:30pm.

Azmi, 47, had been cross-examined by Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s counsel Datuk Hariharan Tara Singh on Wednesday and was slated to continue on Thursday.

Akram went on to explain to Justice Sequerah that the prosecution had in due course contacted five other witnesses to get another witness to testify in court on Thursday, but it appeared as though none was available.

“Datuk Johan Idris (KPMG managing partner) is in London, coming back on Jan 22 and is only available on the 29th.

“Datuk Wan Ahmad Shihab Wan Ismail (Najib’s former special officer) is unavailable because, according to him, he has been having diarrhoea for the past three days. [Former 1MDB director] Tan Sri Ismee Ismail just came back from umrah and is under quarantine,” he said.

Akram said he also contacted two 1MDB company secretaries who were not available as one of them was getting a Covid-19 booster shot while the other was busy with two meetings.

The two company secretaries are Lim Poh Seng and Goh Gaik Kim.

The DPP added that he cannot ask Goh to cancel her meetings because, according to her, they are “very important”.

“You can’t ask her to cancel, but the court can,” Justice Sequerah countered.

Levelled with this revelation, Justice Sequerah remarked that the prosecution has 50 other witnesses on their witness list and said that the court will stand down until 2:30pm to provide time for the prosecution to attempt to get another witness in court to testify.

“I do not want to waste the court’s time, so you do your best. I appreciate the effort made and difficulty you’re facing, so we’ll stand down until 2:30pm,” he added.

The trial is slated to continue at 2:30pm with Akram to update the judge on whether a witness is able to testify in court on Thursday.

In the 1MDB-Tanore trial, Najib is facing 21 counts of money laundering and four charges of abuse of power over alleged misappropriation of billions of ringgit of 1MDB funds.

The Edge is covering the trial live here.

Users of The Edge Markets app may tap here to access the live report.

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1MDB-Tanore trial: Prosecution fails to find another witness after Azmi Tahir falls sick, trial vacated till Jan 26