1MDB: 'Dead man tells no tales' - Najib's lawyer tells court

The prosecution has no case against Najib Abdul Razak as they are relying on hearsay evidence of a dead man and a fugitive, the former premier’s lead counsel contended.

Muhammad Shafee Abdullah told the Kuala Lumpur High Court this regarding a key prosecution witness’s testimony about on-the-lam businessperson Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) allegedly acting for Najib.

The lawyer today told judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah that the testimony of Najib’s former special officer Amhari Efendi Nazarudin was about what was allegedly divulged by the accused’s former chief private secretary Azlin Alias.

Azlin died in a helicopter crash in 2015, three years before Najib was charged in the criminal court with abuse of power and money laundering in a case involving RM2.27 billion of 1MDB’s funds.

Amhari previously testified that Azlin had met Low in secret on 1MDB matters and that only Najib and the fugitive “had the fullest picture of the manoeuvrings they were planning”.

“Dead man tells no tales. (Witness testimony about) Azlin should be excluded,” Shafee (above) submitted before Sequerah.

‘Hearsay evidence can be disregarded’

The defence counsel pointed out that the hearsay evidence can be disregarded as the trial judge was not even able to see Low’s demeanour in court.

“Jho Low is not around and neither is Azlin,” Shafee said.

The lawyer remarked that the hearsay aspect is seen by other witnesses such as 1MDB’s general counsel Jasmine Loo and former CEOs Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi and Mohd Hazem Abd Rahman.

These and several other prosecution witnesses claimed to have dealings with Low, who was alleged to have relied on Najib’s authority to execute transfers of 1MDB monies.

Loo used to be part of Low’s inner circle.

“The prosecution never gave evidence through their witnesses on why Low was not present (in court), whether they (authorities) made any effort to ensure his presence, and whether they attempted to extradite Low from any country,” Shafee noted.

The lawyer added that the prosecution’s case is further weakened by an admission by Amhari’s previous admission during trial that the witness had received a US$200,000 loan from Low.

Open-court proceedings before Sequerah resumes this afternoon.

When the trial resumed later, co-defence counsel Wan Azwan Aiman Wan Fakhruddin submitted that Amhari’s testimony lacked credibility for making an unsupported claim that Low ordered the witness and Azlin to open foreign bank accounts, with the “blessings of Najib”.

Wan Azwan pointed out that Amhari’s testimony is not backed by MACC investigating officer Nur Aida Arifin, whom the defence team claimed had failed to produce evidence to support the claim.

The lawyer contended that the criminal court can draw an adverse inference, namely, that Amhari fabricated the story to paint Azlin in a bad light and so that he (Amhari) did not appear as the only corrupt officer.

Najib’s 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 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, the 71-year-old was accused of committing 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.

The prosecution closed its case on May 30 this year, six years after the former prime minister was first charged.

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, among them Loo, Amhari, Shahrol, Hazem, former 1MDB chairperson Mohd Bakke Salleh, and former Bank Negara governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz.

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.

Ahmad Akram Gharib acted for the prosecution.

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