00:00The High Court has expunged parts of former Damansara MP Tony Pua's witness statement in 1MDB's $5.64 billion US
00:08dollar civil suit against former Prime Minister Najib Razak.
00:12Judicial Commissioner Red Swan Idrus allowed an application by Najib's lead counsel, Shafi Abdullah, to strike out several paragraphs after
00:21ruling that they contained opinion and hearsay.
00:23The expunged passages mainly referred to media reports on 1MDB during Najib's administration, including several articles published by Sarawak Report.
00:34The court spent nearly seven hours hearing and ruling on Shafi's objections as Pua read out his witness statement.
00:41Shafi argued that Pua, who was called as a former Public Accounts Committee member,
00:46had relied on media reports to suggest that Najib, or the government, had tried to obstruct efforts to uncover the
00:531MDB affair.
00:54The court also struck out Pua's statements on former Attorney General Abdul Ghani Patel and remarks on the cabinet reshuffle
01:01that led to Muhyiddin Yassin's removal as Deputy Prime Minister.
01:05It also ordered the word scandal to be removed from the witness statement after counsel for former 1MDB Director of
01:12Investments Kelvin Tan
01:13argued that the term was loaded and prejudicial.
01:16Other passages on Bank Negara Malaysia and MACC investigations were also removed, as Pua was not part of either investigation
01:25team.
01:261MDB is seeking to recover about US$5.64 billion from Najib and several others over funds allegedly misappropriated,
01:34with the hearing to resume on August 10 for further objections to Pua's statement.
01:39Adrian Fernandez, FMT
01:421MDB is seeking to recover about US$5.64 billion from Najib.
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