KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 — Due back in the dock on Wednesday, Pekan MP Datuk Seri Najib Razak today said he is in favour of a “live” broadcast of his trial over the abuse of RM42 million in funds from a former unit of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
“I will support the ‘live’ broadcast because it will help transparency and ensure the ‘Rule of Law’ is followed.
“The rakyat have the right to know the truth,” he wrote on his Facebook page today.
Najib has been slapped with seven charges over the abuse of RM42 million funds in SRC International Sdn Bhd between August 2011 and March 2015 when he was prime minister.
The High Court has scheduled trial to begin on April 3 in the afternoon, after the Federal Court last week lifted a stay order on the case.
Najib faces 25 charges over a sum exceeding RM2 billion of 1MDB funds, with trial dates previously already fixed for April 15 until May 3.
An online petition to Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo to air Najib’s trial “live” was started nine months ago by one Karim Yasin and has drawn over 40,000 supporters to date.
Karim listed six arguments for the “live” telecast of the trial, including public interest in the case, transparency, to avoid dissemination of “fake news” by Najib “supporters and goons”, the smooth running of proceedings, and as a revenue source to be channelled to help the Pakatan Harapan government pay off the country’s debts.
