Malaysia Adjourns Najib’s 1MDB Trial on Coronavirus Concern
Malaysia Adjourns Najib’s 1MDB Trial on Coronavirus Concern
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Malaysia adjourned former leader Najib Razak’s 1MDB trial over concern his lawyer may have been exposed to the new coronavirus.
Former Prime Minister Najib’s entire defense team couldn’t attend the Thursday proceedings as they were ordered to self-quarantine, said a representative from the law firm Shafee & Co. His lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah attended an event on Saturday, when he came in contact with a family member who worked in the same office as a person confirmed to have the virus.
Najib is undergoing trial for dozens of corruption charges linked to his alleged role in troubled state fund 1MDB, or 1Malaysia Development Bhd. He has consistently denied wrongdoing.
Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah asked the lawyers to show an official letter confirming that Shafee’s family member was told to be tested for the disease known as Covid-19, as well as documentation to say the defense team was ordered to go into quarantine. Otherwise, the trial should resume on Friday, he said.
Malaysia has seen a resurgence of coronavirus cases, which was recently designated a pandemic by the World Health Organization. The country had 149 confirmed cases as of Wednesday, with authorities finding its first sporadic case of someone who had no travel history or any known contact with an infected person.
To contact the reporter on this story: Hadi Azmi in Kuala Lumpur at klnews@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Yudith Ho at yho35@bloomberg.net, Chan Tien Hin
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