Najib guilty of all seven charges related to SRC International

Former premier Najib Abdul Razak has been found guilty of all seven charges related to the RM42 million from SRC International Sdn Bhd case.

The charges concerned abuse of power, criminal breach of trust (CBT) and money laundering.

Najib was calm when Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali delivered his verdict at the Kuala Lumpur High Court this morning.

The judge ruled that the defence failed to raise reasonable doubt in the prosecution’s case.

This marked the first conviction against Najib in the multiple 1MDB-linked criminal cases against the former finance minister.

The other cases against him that are still being heard or pending before the Kuala Lumpur High Court are - the RM2.28 billion 1MDB abuse of power case, the 1MDB audit report tampering case, the RM6.6 billion IPIC (International Petroleum International Corp) CBT case and the RM27 million SRC International money laundering case.

Today's verdict was in relation to one count of abuse of power, three counts of CBT and three counts of money laundering.

SRC International was a former subsidiary of 1MDB before it was fully owned by the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MoF Inc).

Najib was then the chairperson of 1MDB's board of advisors, SRC International’s advisor emeritus as well as finance minister.

The abuse of power charge was framed under Section 23(1) of the MACC Act 2009, which specified a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment, a fine of not less than five times the amount of gratification, or RM10,000, whichever is higher.

The three CBT charges were under Section 409 of the Penal Code, which carries a maximum punishment of 20 years' jail, fine and whipping. However, Najib, who just turned 67 on July 23, would be spared from being whipped due to his age.

The three money laundering charges were under Section 4(1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing, and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001, which has a penalty of a jail term up to 15 years and RM5 million fine or five times the amount involved, whichever is higher.

At the end of the ruling that took two hours to read out, Nazlan ruled that Najib failed to raise reasonable doubt in the prosecution’s case against him in relation to the seven charges.

"I find that the prosecution succeeded in proving its case beyond a reasonable doubt in relation to the (abuse of power charge) under Section 23 (of the MACC Act), the three CBT charges and the three money laundering charges.

"I, therefore, find the accused guilty and convict the accused on all seven charges," Nazlan said as Najib looked on calmly from the dock.

After the guilty verdict was read out, Najib's lead counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah applied for mitigation to be put off to Monday next week.

Shafee said this was necessary to allow the defence team to peruse a full written ruling by the court today in order to come up with the best mitigation for the accused.

However, lead DPP V Sithambaram objected to the defence's application to postpone mitigation to Monday.

He said this was because the judge had already taken the trouble to read out a lengthy ruling today, therefore there was no need to wait for the court to issue a written judgement before mitigation could be conducted.

Sithambaram also said that the prosecution would be prejudiced if the mitigation was put off till Monday next week.

Nazlan then remarked that it was not the usual process for a court to not hear mitigation on the same day a conviction was meted out.

"Has the prosecution ever come across this (situation)? I am not convinced," Nazlan told Sithambaram.

The court then adjourned to 2 pm to resume hearing submissions on the defence's application for mitigation be heard on Monday.

Nazlan later ruled he would hear mitigation today.

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