1MDB trial: Najib is ordered to defend himself on all charges

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court has summoned Datuk Seri Najib Razak to conduct his defense on four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering involving RM2.28bil linked to 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah said the court had evaluated the case to the maximum and ruled that the prosecution had been proven prima facie in the case against the former prime minister.

“This court, therefore, calls on the accused to defend himself against all 21 charges under the Anti-Money Laundering Act,” he said here on Wednesday (Oct 30).

Moments earlier, the judge called on Najib to defend himself on four charges under the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 relating to abuse of power.

Najib’s counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said his client “has nothing to hide” and will testify from the witness box.

After the court interpreter read Najib his options, the former prime minister chose to testify under oath.

While reading out his decision in the RM2.28bil 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) trial in the proceedings on Wednesday (Oct 30), Judge Sequerah had said the charges against Datuk Seri Najib Razak are valid and legally correct.

He had added that the defense team claimed that Najib’s allegations were “flawed, ambiguous and ambiguous”.

“I am of the opinion that the charges meet all the legal criteria of the Code of Criminal Procedure,” the judge said.

He also said he did not think Najib had been “misled” by the allegations.

The defense had also argued that prosecution witnesses such as ex-1MDB CFO Azmi Tahir, ex-1MDB chairman Tan Sri Mohd Bakke Salleh and former AmBank relationship manager Joanna Yu gave evidence as they claimed to have been in communication with persons who could not be found, such as fugitive financier Low Taek Jho (or Jho Low), Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil (still at large) and Datuk Azlin Alias (now deceased).

On this issue of hearsay, Judge Sequerah said he found that the communications between the witnesses and the undiscovered persons occurred in the normal course of business.

After examining the evidence, he then said he found the oral communications admissible in court.

“I find that the testimony of these witnesses was consistent and the credibility of these witnesses remains intact,” he said.

According to the amended indictment, the former Pekan MP faces four charges of using his position to obtain a settlement of RM2.28 billion from 1MDB’s funds and 21 charges of money laundering involving the same amount .

The abuse of power offenses are alleged to have been committed between February 24, 2011 and December 19, 2014 at a branch of AmIslamic Bank Bhd, Jalan Raja Chulan, Bukit Ceylon.r

Meanwhile, the money laundering crimes are said to have been committed at the same location between March 22 and August 30, 2013.

The charges were brought under Section 23(1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 and are punishable under Section 24(1) of the same act.

If convicted at the end of the defense case, Najib faces a prison term of up to 20 years and a fine of five times the amount of the gratuity or RM10,000, whichever is higher.

On May 30, the prosecutor closed his case after calling fifty witnesses to testify against the former prime minister.

Some of the high-profile witnesses included former 1MDB chairman Tan Sri Mohd Bakke Salleh, former 1MDB CEO Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi and former Bank Negara governor Tan Sri Dr. Zeti Akhtar Aziz.

Another notable witness was former 1MDB general counsel Jasmine Loo, who spent about five years in hiding abroad before surrendering to authorities in July last year.

She became the 50th and last witness to testify.

READ ALSO: Najib’s fate is known today

The trial against the accuser started on August 28, 2019 and lasted 235 days.

The late deputy public prosecutor Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram led the prosecution team until his death in January last year.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib took up his mantle along with other DPPs Mohamad Mustaffa P. Kunyalam and Kamal Bahrin Omar in the team.

Meanwhile, lead lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah and lawyers Wan Mohammad Arfan represented Wan Othman and Wan Azwan Aiman Wan Fakhruddin Najib.

There’s more to come