Shafee: Prove Najib knew 'Arab donation' faked, then you can hang him

NAJIB TRIAL | Defence lawyers are sceptical of the prosecution's ability to nail Najib Abdul Razak on money laundering charges in his RM2.28 billion 1MDB trial.

Commenting on the prosecution's opening statement, lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah claimed that it does not matter where the money the former premier spent came from.

Instead, Shafee stressed, what matters in the case is whether Najib knew that the funds that ended up in his account originated from 1MDB.

"We have always said whatever the monies are, my client honestly believes that it came from the Saudi king, because he met the Saudi king and there was a promise of US$1 billion (RM4.21 billion)," he told reporters outside the Kuala Lumpur High Court this afternoon.

"And the money did come into his account. This is our defence, it is not a secret, we have always said that.

"The question is, how do you break the fact that this is the man's belief? I don't care where the money came from in this (money laundering) charge, as he always believed it was a donation." 

Shafee was fielding questions on the long-awaited first day of 1MDB trial today, and lead prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram's opening statement.

"So whether documents are fabricated or not, you (prosecution) prove it. And even if you prove it, you have to prove that Najib knows it was fabricated.

"I don't care if (fugitive businessperson) Low Taek Jho knows. Did Najib know? Only then you can hang him," he said.

Shafee was asked about the prosecution's claim that Najib and Low had taken steps to cover their tracks, including fabricating documents to show that there was a donation from Saudi Arabia.

'Client misled'

The lawyer also said that he is excited to see the prosecution trying to prove that Low was Najib's "alter ego."

He noted that Low (photo) had also been a subject in the SRC International trial, where the defence claimed the businessperson misled many parties, including Najib.

Najib's defence in the 1MDB hearing will also be similar to that employed in the SRC International case, he added.

"My client has been misled. And one of the names we mentioned is Low. He misled AmBank, 1MDB, even when 1MDB was the Terengganu Investment Authority.

"We will raise this. To say my client is the 'alter ego', I want to see them prove it. I don't want to comment (further), I don't want to go into sub judice."

Taking an aim at the prosecution, Shafee said the latter had promised a lot in their opening statement.

This, he added, was similar to the promises made by the SRC International trial prosecution team.

"You can see in the SRC case, there was also a thundering promise, but towards the end of the trial, you make up your own mind whether that promise is kept or not."

Shafee claimed that the prosecution in SRC International case had been facing a "great deal" of struggle to even link Najib with Jho Low in the trial.

"This is what I want to know, the fact he (Jho Low) is not here. The fact who are you (prosecution) going to call to say there is collusion (Najib and Jho Low)."

This morning, Sri Ram, in reading the prosecution's opening statement, said that Najib and Jho Low had attempted to cover up the 1MDB scandal after it became public in 2015.

This included creating sham documents to pretend that the former premier received a donation from a member of the Saudi ,when the sum originated from the state-owned firm, he added.

Accusing that Najib had colluded with Jho Low in the scandal, Sri Ram likened the fugitive businessperson to the mirror image of Najib.

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