Unlike several 1MDB conspirators, I never went to Jho Low's house: Najib

1MDB TRIAL | Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak has testified that he had never set foot in fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho's (Jho Low) house at Jalan Kia Peng, Kuala Lumpur.

The former finance minister pointed out that it was multiple former members of 1MDB's management who admitted having visited Low's house, and thus amounted to being part of a conspiracy to commit wrongdoing at 1MDB.

During today's RM2.27 billion 1MDB abuse of power and money laundering trial, Najib told the court that key witnesses, such as the sovereign wealth fund's former CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi, never double-checked with him if certain emails and talking points from Low was on the accused' behest.

Najib was also targeting the validity of testimonies of other prosecution witnesses, such as former 1MDB CEO Mohd Hazem Abdul Rahman, its former general counsel Jasmine Loo, its former chief financial officer Azmi Tahir, and the ex-premier's former special officer Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin.

"For the record, I have never been to Low’s residence nor was I aware of it at Jalan Kia Peng, yet it appears that multiple prosecution witnesses from 1MDB’s management - Shahrol, Jasmine, Azmi, and Hazem - and my former officer, Amhari, had visited his residence frequently.

"This speaks volumes of the conspiracy of these individuals with Low," Najib testified.

No knowledge of ’coordinated criminal scheme’

While rubbishing Shahrol's testimony of seeing Low at the ex-premier's house at Jalan Langgak Duta in Kuala Lumpur, Najib said he was unaware of the witness' claim that there was a “work in silo” environment at 1MDB.

However, the accused said he would not condone such a work environment if it did exist at 1MDB.

"Secrecy fosters corruption within any institution and encourages fraudulent behaviour in any corporation. Furthermore, based on the prosecution witnesses’ testimonies, it is clear that there was no actual implementation of a 'work in silo' arrangement at 1MDB.

"Instead, the witnesses’ evidence reveals a coordinated criminal scheme carried out without my knowledge. Prosecution witnesses, such as Shahrol, Jasmine, Azmi, and Hazem, frequently collaborated on the same transactions, despite their claims of working in isolation.

"This demonstrates a deliberate and collaborative effort among them, contradicting the claim that these were independent, siloed operations.

"I reiterate that Shahrol’s assertions lack basis, and his conduct - as well as that of other 1MDB officers - indicates a coordinated scheme orchestrated by Low alone, which was without my knowledge or involvement," Najib told judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah.

‘Convenient to blame me’

The accused said he never communicated any instructions to Low to be disseminated to Shahrol and other members of 1MDB management, contending he did not know about claims that the fugitive acted on his behalf.

"These talking points were crafted solely by Low collaborators and systematically used to give the unified directions to the above. I have never, obviously, seen any of these talking points as if I had seen them contemporaneously, Low's misleading claims would have been uncovered by me.

"But I am surprised that these talking points might have been used to impress some members of the board of directors or the board collectively that I gave the blessing to the talking points.

"It is convenient for Shahrol, Amhari, Hazem, Azmi, and Jasmine to place blame on me, as this narrative shields them from accountability for the criminal activities they knowingly, consciously and deliberately executed on Low’s behalf," Najib testified.

Najib denies work in silo concept in PMO

In response to Amhari's testimony that the “work in silo” practice was carried over from what was allegedly practised in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), Najib replied there was no such concept structure in place within PMO.

The former premier explained that specific instructions were issued to designated individuals as required by the office's high-level operations.

Najib said the practice is both expected and necessary in such an environment, where sensitive information is appropriately compartmentalised to maintain security.

"When I issued specific instructions, they were directed to a particular individual; this does not constitute a 'silo' approach but rather standard protocol to protect the confidentiality and integrity of the prime minister’s work.

"As was confirmed by Amhari during cross-examination, there is nothing 'sinister' about this environment in the PMO. This approach ensures the secure handling of critical matters, aligning with the principle that the confidentiality of sensitive information is best preserved by limiting its access," Najib said.

50 witness testimonies

On Oct 30, the criminal court ordered Najib to enter his defence over four abuse of power and 21 money laundering charges involving RM2.27 billion of funds from 1MDB.

Sequerah ruled that the prosecution succeeded in establishing a prima facie (answerable) case against Najib over the company that is wholly owned by the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MOF Inc).

The judge ruled that Najib had to answer the charges due to the strength of the various 50 witness testimonies during the prosecution stage of proceedings that lasted six years since the trial began in 2019. The accused was first charged in 2018.

Prosecutors claimed that Low was involved in the financial wrongdoing at 1MDB at the behest of Najib.

However, the former Pekan MP contended that he had no knowledge of wrongdoing at the sovereign wealth fund, and the embezzlement there was solely perpetrated by Low and members of its management.

Najib is serving a six-year jail sentence over a separate abuse of power case involving RM42 million of funds from SRC International, a former subsidiary of 1MDB.

He is also facing an ongoing criminal trial for the RM27 million SRC money laundering case.

Previously, Najib was acquitted in another criminal case involving 1MDB’s audit report.

He was also granted a discharge not amounting to an acquittal on Nov 27 in the RM6.6 billion International Petroleum Investment Company criminal breach of trust case.

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