Najib wasn't at bank, power abuse charges defective - Shafee

1MDB TRIAL | Najib Abdul Razak was never at a bank, thus two abuse of power charges the former prime minister is facing are defective, his lawyer contended.

Muhammad Shafee Abdullah told the criminal court today that the charges have been badly drafted as they implied that Najib committed power abuse at AmBank.

Shafee pointed out though, that the way the charges are drafted seems to imply that Najib also committed the offence during a cabinet meeting.

“We know from prosecution witnesses’ testimonies that their case was that what transpired at AmIslamic Bank was money received in my client’s account.

“They are saying that receiving gratification is the offence. My client can say that he has not even been to the bank.

“How could they say that my client at AmIslamic Bank used his position for gratification,” Shafee (above) told the Kuala Lumpur High Court, adding that the criminal charges are “fundamentally flawed”.

“He (Najib) never saw the AmBank building. He had never been to the bank. How could he be accused of abuse of power at AmBank?

“It totally confused us in our defence,” Shafee said, adding that the prejudice towards his client was such that the trial lasted six years.

In total, the four 1MDB-linked abuse of power charges claimed that ex-finance minister Najib committed the offence at AmIslamic Bank between Feb 24, 2011 and Dec 19, 2014.

Reading from his over 2,500-page written submissions, Shafee contended that two of the power abuse charges have sub-limbs containing separate events that require them to be separated as individual charges.

He then cited one of the power abuse charges linked to an alleged receiving of RM60.6 million gratification at AmIslamic Bank at Jalan Raja Chulan, Kuala Lumpur, between Feb 24 and June 14, 2011.

Four separate events

The charge cited four separate events that allegedly led to the receipt of the gratification.

One event was a cabinet meeting at Prime Minister’s Office on April 1, 2009, where Najib was alleged to have secured cabinet approval for a government guarantee for a RM5 billion loan sought by Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA).

Another event cited in the same charge was at the cabinet meeting on July 29, 2009, where Najib was alleged to have approved the federal government’s acquisition of TIA from the Terengganu state administration, leading to TIA’s transformation into 1MDB.

Oral submissions before trial judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues today.

The charges

Najib is facing not just four counts of abuse of power but also 21 counts of money laundering involving RM2.27 billion from 1MDB.

For the four abuse of power charges, the former Pekan MP allegedly committed the offences at AmIslamic Bank Bhd’s Jalan Raja Chulan branch in Bukit Ceylon, Kuala Lumpur, between Feb 24, 2011, and Dec 19, 2014.

On the 21 money laundering counts, Najib purportedly committed the offences at the same bank between March 22 and Aug 30, 2013.

Minister of Finance (Incorporated) fully owns 1MDB where Najib was chairperson of the board of advisers.

The accused was first charged on Sept 20, 2018, and his criminal trial began on Aug 28, 2019.

On May 30 this year, the prosecution closed its case, six years after the former prime minister was first charged in late 2018.

Fifty witnesses took the stand for the prosecution, including 1MDB’s former general counsel Jasmine Loo.

Loo was allegedly part of the inner circle of 1MDB-linked fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho (Jho Low).

Prosecutors claimed that Najib received RM2.27 billion misappropriated from the troubled sovereign wealth fund between 2011 and 2014.

However, Najib’s defence team contended that the former premier had no knowledge of any wrongdoing at 1MDB and that any wrongdoing that may have happened was solely masterminded by Low and members of the fund’s management.

The former finance minister also previously contended that the late King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia promised the accused financial donation for political purposes.

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