1MDB one of reasons, not main issue leading to BN's GE14 loss: Najib

1MDB TRIAL | Ex-premier Najib Abdul Razak testified that the 1MDB issue was not the main reason but one of the reasons his BN coalition was voted out in 2018.

The former BN chairperson told the High Court in Putrajaya this afternoon that the issue of millions of dollars deposited into his account has nothing to do with the 1MDB issue being talked about publicly then.

Najib was replying during cross-examination by deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib during the RM2.27 billion 1MDB abuse of power and money laundering trial against the accused.

Akram: This issue (1MDB) was among the main reasons that caused your BN government to lose in the 14th general election on May 9, 2018?

Najib: There were other issues. It was one of the reasons, but not the main reason.

The former Pekan MP said there were attempts by certain quarters in the lead-up to the 2018 polls to wrongly link him to the 1MDB scandal being publicly reported and discussed then.

Najib maintained that the billions of ringgit that entered his account in 2013 was a donation promised to him by Arab royalty and that he returned nearly the entire donation to its sender later.

Answerable case

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 troubled sovereign wealth fund 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.

Since the prima facie ruling, Najib has been testifying in his defence against the 1MDB criminal charges.

The accused maintained that he had no knowledge of wrongdoing at 1MDB and that the embezzlement at the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund was solely masterminded by Low and members of its management.

Lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah represented Najib.

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