KINI ROUNDUP | Here are key headlines you may have missed, in brief.
1. Rosmah Mansor’s former aide Rizal Mansor (above) testified at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur, where the judge rejected the defence’s bid to bar media reporting of portions of the testimony that were deemed to amount to character assassination.
2. Rizal confirmed the voices heard in the infamous ‘Can I advise you something’ phone call were those of Najib Abdul Razak and Rosmah, and told the court that Rosmah has an ability to secure datukships and had paid cybertroopers RM100,000 a month to fend off negative publicity.
3. Last week, 13 men serving life imprisonment were granted royal pardon in conjunction with Merdeka Day celebrations. The latest instalment of KiniGuide recounts how their religious cult raided an army camp and found themselves facing charges of waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
4. DAP will be contesting in the Sabah state election under the Warisan ticket. PKR, the only Pakatan Harapan party not to do so, said it will not be swayed by the decision to follow suit.
5. Former finance minister Lim Guan Eng will be facing two additional corruption charges tomorrow, just a day before nomination day for the Sabah state election.
6. Women, Family and Community Development Minister Rina Harun plans to seek an out-of-court settlement with a French-based production company that is suing her over an alleged failure to pay for the purchase of films amounting to RM2 million.
7. A coalition of NGOs said in a report that while Pakatan Harapan was focused on institutional reforms, PN is only concerned about political longevity and the return to power with a mandate.
8. Kedah Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor defended his appointment of PAS Youth chief Khairil Nizam Khirudin to a position within a government-linked company, claiming that Khairil held a rare expertise in safety that is possessed by only five people in Malaysia.
9. The MACC has arrested an Umno deputy division chief in Perak over allegations of embezzling funds belonging to an association for people living with disabilities.
10. PKR senator Ahmad Azam Hamzah has apologised and admitted that his speech on party hopping was lifted from a researcher’s article, saying that he was initially unaware of the plagiarism when the speech was prepared by his team.
