Najib did not apologise expecting favourable outcome, says lawyer

Former premier Najib Abdul Razak did not apologise for the 1MDB scandal expecting a favourable outcome with regard to the court deciding if he needed to enter his defence, said his counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.

Speaking to reporters, he said the expression of regret would not affect the defence because there was no admission of guilt.

“Najib apologised that the 1MDB debacle happened during his watch. He’s not saying that ‘I did it’.

“He has to apologise because he was the number one. Under the Westminster system, if you are the head of the government, and a bad thing happens under your watch, you apologise, among other things.

“And that’s precisely what he did. He did not apologise for those purposes to get a better result here, no,” Shafee told a press conference at the Kuala Lumpur Court Complex.

Shafee, who conceded that Najib was disappointed with the outcome this morning, said the defence would call at least 11 witnesses.

Najib would also be giving his sworn statement from the witness stand, the lawyer added, because the former prime minister has “nothing to fear”.

Earlier, the Kuala Lumpur High Court ordered Najib to enter his defence over four abuse of power charges and 21 money laundering counts involving RM2.27 billion of funds from 1MDB.

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