JUDGMENT

Collin Lawrence Sequerah J:

A) Introduction

[1] The accused is a former Prime Minister of Malaysia and also held the post of Minister of Finance. He held both positions concurrently.

[2] The accused was charged with 4 (four) offences under s 23(1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 (MACC Act) and 21 offences under s 4(1)(a) Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act 2001 (AMLATFA) (Act 613).

[3] This trial has a chequered history. The charges were first preferred against the accused on 20 September 2018 at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court, after which the case was transferred to the Kuala Lumpur High Court on 31 October 2018. The trial however, did not proceed then due to several factors, one of which was the prosecution of the accused in criminal trials nos. WA-45-2-7/2018, WA-45-3-7/2018 and WA-45-4-8/2018 (PP v. Dato' Sri Mohd Najib Hj Abd Razak [2020] 5 MLRH 232; [2020] 11 MLJ 808; [2020] 8 CLJ 319) at the Kuala Lumpur High Court (more commonly known as the SRC case). An application was also made by the then Attorney General to delay the commencement of the trial until the conclusion of the SRC case. This ap