Kuala Lumpur: The High Court today ruled that Datuk Seri Najib Razak had through his Facebook postings attacked former Bank Negara Malaysia governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz, who is listed as a witness in his 1MDB trial.
As the prosecution had not asked for Najib to be cited for contempt of court but only for a warning to be issued, High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah did just that, warning Najib not to repeat this.
“The court hereof thereby issues a stern warning on the accused to not repeat the actions. The court will take whatever actions deemed necessary to preserve the integrity of the trial process,” he said.
On January 5, the prosecution asked the High Court to sternly warn Najib against making attacks on social media against witnesses that will be testifying in court against him in the 1MDB trial.
Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram, who was leading the prosecution in the 1MDB trial, had said that Najib appears to be conducting his defence through Facebook postings, but said trials should take place in a court of law instead of on social media.
On December 29, Najib had in his Facebook post challenged Zeti to respond to allegations that her family had allegedly received funds of over RM100 million including purported funds originating from 1MDB from fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho or Jho Low in their bank accounts in Singapore.
On December 31, Zeti in a press statement said she and her family had never received any money from 1MDB, stressing that such allegations against them are completely false and malicious.
Besides highlighting that she had given her full cooperation to the authorities in their investigation of the 1MDB case, Zeti had also said she could not make any further statements as she was a potential witness in Najib’s ongoing criminal trial.
