Shafee bantah penyataan saksi Pua dalam prosiding saman 1MDB

Former PAC member Tony Pua was scheduled to testify as the second witness in the 1MDB civil lawsuit against former Prime Minister Najib Razak, according to the source. However, Shafee Abdullah, Pua's lawyer, challenged a significant portion of Pua's testimony, arguing that it contained personal opinions and hearsay elements. Pua, a former member of the National Economic Advisory Council (PAC), was set to testify about events starting in 2018, which led to the lawsuit.

Shafee claimed that Pua appeared to act like a prosecutor, almost taking on the role of the country's top police officer, regarding matters he learned only from secondary sources.

Shafee cited Pua's accusations that Najib sabotaged the PAC process, which he deemed as mere opinion. He also challenged Pua's reliance on various media reports and statements from the Malaysian Bar Council concerning the 1MDB issue. Shafee argued that if Pua only referred to Hansard, there would be no issue; similarly, if he relied on PAC reports or the official records of the parliamentary proceedings, he would not challenge them, as they are all official parliamentary records. However, Pua presented his own version and opinions, Shafee stated.

Shafee also challenged Pua's reliance on the claim of asset forfeiture filed by the US Department of Justice (DoJ), labeling it as "simply one claim." He stated that it was not yet decided by the court and Pua treated the claim as if it were a proven fact. Shafee further provided an opinion on the identity of 'Malaysian Official 1'.

If the matter needed to be proven, he urged the party providing the DoJ claim to come forward. Meanwhile, lawyer Li Shih, representing 1MDB, argued that Pua's references to the timeline of events were merely to show that various incidents, media reports, and findings indeed occurred. He said that citing Pua was not intended to prove the truth of the allegations.

Li also stated that his legal team was free to challenge Pua's witness statements regarding those matters. Redzuan Idrus, the prosecutor, allowed the proceeding to be adjourned until the next day to allow the plaintiff to file written submissions before the court decides on Shafee's motion to strike out portions of Pua's testimony.