JUDGMENT

Mohamed Zaini Mazlan J:

Introduction

[1] The accused is the wife of the former Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Mohd Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak. She is faced with three charges under s 16(a)(A) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009, where she is accused of corruptly soliciting and also receiving gratification as an inducement and reward for helping a company called Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd in getting a project from the Ministry of Education.

[2] Although the accused did not hold any office in the government, the prosecution alleged that she held considerable influence and that she had used it to benefit herself corruptly.

[3] The accused was initially charged in the Sessions Court. Her cases were subsequently transferred to the High Court pursuant to her application under s 417 Criminal Procedure Code, which was not objected by the prosecution. Two of the charges were in Case No: WA-45-9-03-2019, and was transferred to Justice Collin Sequerah's Court, where else one other charge in Case No: WA-45-19-07-2019 was transferred to this Court. The case in Justice Collin Sequerah's Court was subsequently transferred to this Court pursuant to the prosecution's application, who then applied to have it jointly tried with the charge in Case No: WA-45-19-07-2019.