No greed in Najib adopting 'baby' 1MDB - Shafee

1MDB TRIAL | There was no greed when former premier Najib Abdul Razak adopted “baby” 1MDB in 2009, the Kuala Lumpur High Court heard today.

Lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah submitted that former 1MDB chief executive officer Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi was the “driving force” behind the federalisation of the previously state-owned fund.

Previously known as Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA), the fund was later transferred from the east coast state to the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MOF Inc) in 2009.

Shafee told judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah that Shahrol mooted the idea of the federal government taking over 1MDB, and repeatedly followed up the idea with Najib.

"The reason for federalisation was (not) Najib's greed (but he) was given a baby to adopt," the lawyer contended.

Shafee was making oral submissions in the case of four abuse of power charges and 21 money laundering counts against Najib linked to RM2.27 billion of 1MDB's funds.

During the trial in 2019, Najib's former special officer Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin agreed with the defence team that TIA was the “Agong's baby”.

The Agong in 2009 was Terengganu ruler Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin.

Proceedings before Sequerah resumes this afternoon.

Charges

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.

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.

The proceedings are now in the oral submissions stage, which involves no witness testimonies, only legal teams summing up whether the evidence implicated or exonerated Najib.

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

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

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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