1MDB’s US$8bil lawsuit against Najib makes way for criminal trial
KUALA LUMPUR: Lawyers for 1MDB and Najib Razak have reached an agreement for the company’s US$8 billion lawsuit against the former prime minister and seven others to be stayed pending the disposal of his criminal trial. Najib’s lawyer, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, told reporters this after case management before High Court…
KUALA LUMPUR: Lawyers for 1MDB and Najib Razak have reached an agreement for the company’s US$8 billion lawsuit against the former prime minister and seven others to be stayed pending the disposal of his criminal trial.
Najib’s lawyer, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, told reporters this after case management before High Court judicial commissioner Atan Mustaffa Yussof Ahmad.
“We don’t want the civil trial to go on until the criminal case is over. And they (1MDB) agreed,” he said, adding that the court recorded a consent on the stay application.
1MDB’s lawyer, PB Naban, confirmed the outcome of the court’s proceeding.
Najib wants to suspend 1MDB’s civil suit pending the outcome of his criminal trial.
He was slapped with 25 charges of abuse of power and money laundering over alleged 1MDB funds amounting to RM2.28 billion deposited in his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.
The hearing of the criminal case will resume on March 14.
The government, through 1MDB and its subsidiary companies, filed the lawsuit in May last year. They claimed that Najib and others committed fraudulent misrepresentation, breach of duties, breach of statutory duties and unjust enrichment.
1MDB is seeking US$8 billion in damages from them. — Free Malaysia Today