1MDB: Najib may interview convicted ex-banker

1MDB TRIAL | Najib Abdul Razak is mulling whether to interview former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng, who was convicted and sentenced by a United States court.

The former prime minister's lead counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah today indicated this to the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

Najib contended that Ng's testimony may exonerate him from the RM2.27 billion 1MDB abuse of power and money laundering case for which the ex-finance minister is on trial for.

In March last year, the US court sentenced the Malaysian former banker to 10 years in jail for involvement in embezzlement of funds from 1MDB.

However late last year, the Malaysian police with the consent of US authorities brought Ng (above) back here to assist in the investigation into the 1MDB affair.

In the course of his testimony, Najib claimed that the US government previously blocked his attempt to obtain 1MDB-linked evidence from the US court.

The accused claimed that Ng told the US court that there was evidence that would exonerate the former premier from criminal liability in the 1MDB affair.

Judge: Don’t make statements that could affect trial

During proceedings this afternoon, deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib objected to Shafee's mid-day press conference.

The prosecutor contended that Shafee's statement to the media after the morning proceedings was borderline contempt.

In response, Shafee countered that he was merely informing the media about Najib's testimony regarding the US government's alleged obstruction and the former premier considering interviewing Ng.

Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah then reminded the defence team to refrain from issuing public statements outside court that could affect the ongoing trial.

Abuse of power, money laundering charges

On Oct 30, the Kuala Lumpur High 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 Minister of Finance Incorporated’s (MOF Inc) wholly owned company.

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.

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.

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