KUALA LUMPUR: It is up to the courts to decide whether to broadcast live the upcoming trial of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said it was the under the jurisdiction of the courts whether to make the trial be broadcast live, as there was interest among the people to watch it.
“We don’t want to make it a circus, and let the law take its course,“ she said at a press conference after launching the Xtra20 card by KTM today.
She was responding to an online petition by Malaysians to broadcast Najib’s trial live, which currently has as many as 40,000 signatures.
Najib himself had also said on his Facebook page that he wanted his trial to be shown live, as it would purportedly help with transparency and ensure that the rule of law was carried out.
After several delays, the Federal Court has instructed that Najib’s trial on corruption, money laundering and abuse of power to begin on Wednesday.
On another matter, Wan Azizah said it was up to the Cabinet to decide whether or not to release the report by the Council of Eminent Persons (CEP).
“I was made to understand that a meeting is being held, and I will speak with the prime minister about this,” she said.
She said some issues in the report had yet to be resolved while there were others that were considered “sensitive”.
“These are the factors that have to be taken into account before releasing the report,” she added.
