Najib to seek Swiss court's 1MDB ruling against two PSI execs

1MDB TRIAL | Najib Abdul Razak’s lawyers will be writing to the Swiss Court to seek the full ruling that jailed two Petrosaudi International Ltd (PSI) executives.

Najib’s lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah today confirmed they wished to strengthen the ex-premier’s defence against the ongoing RM2.27 billion 1MDB power abuse and money laundering trial.

The lawyer claimed this is because the Swiss court ruling against Tarek Obaid and Patrick Mahony did not implicate Najib over embezzling funds from 1MDB.

Shafee added that the Swiss court found that fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) was in cahoots with Obaid and Mahony, rather than having acted for Najib.

He was speaking during a press conference at the Kuala Lumpur court complex this afternoon.

On Aug 28, the Swiss court found the duo guilty for their roles in embezzling funds from 1MDB and they were sentenced to seven years and six years in prison respectively.

In relation to the 1MDB trial before the Kuala Lumpur High Court, prosecutors contended that Low was a mirror image of Najib.

The prosecution claimed that Low’s machination included 1MDB entering into the joint venture with PSI in 2009, which led to the embezzlement of US$700 million (RM3.04 billion) from the sovereign wealth fund.

25 charges

Najib is on trial over 25 counts encompassing abuse of power and money laundering of RM2.27 billion funds from 1MDB.

For the four abuse of power charges, the former Pekan MP allegedly committed the offences at AmIslamic Bank Berhad’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 oral and documentary evidence implicates or exonerates Najib.

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

Loo was allegedly part of Low’s 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.

The 1MDB trial before the Malaysian criminal court will resume on Sept 10.

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