Prosecution raises discrepancies in Najib's SRC, 1MDB testimonies

Summary

• Deputy public prosecutor Kamal Baharin Omar points out alleged differences in Najib Abdul Razak’s testimonies in RM42 million SRC International corruption case and RM2.27 billion 1MDB graft case.

• Former prime minister counters by saying he will explain the alleged discrepancies.

1MDB TRIAL | The prosecution in Najib Abdul Razak’s RM2.27 billion 1MDB corruption trial highlighted several alleged discrepancies in the former prime minister’s testimony compared to his previous SRC International case.

However, Najib told the High Court convened in Putrajaya that he would explain the alleged contradictions during re-examination by the defence.

Deputy public prosecutor Kamal Baharin Omar said the discrepancies include what fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) purportedly told Najib after the latter allegedly met with the late Saudi monarch King Abdullah in Saudi Arabia in January 2010.

Kamal pointed out that in the SRC case, in which the former prime minister was convicted, Najib testified that Low told the accused that King Abdullah would send between US$100 million and US$200 million in donations to the ex-premier.

The DPP however noted that for the 1MDB trial, Najib testified that Low told the accused that Arab royalty would send US$1 billion.

Najib is relying on an alleged Arab royalty donation promise - conveyed via four letters allegedly from the Saudi royals - to counter the four abuse of power charges and 21 money laundering counts.

“In essence, yes, but I can explain (during re-examination by the defence team),” Najib told trial judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah.

Jho Low or no?

Najib, who is also former finance minister, gave similar answers when Kamal raised other alleged contradictions.

Among them are that in the SRC trial, Najib testified that he got the four letters from Low, while in 1MDB he testified that he received them from his late chief private secretary Azlin Alias.

Another alleged contradiction was Najib’s SRC testimony that he discussed with Low and Azlin in 2011 to open an AmBank account to receive the alleged Arab donation, while the accused’s 1MDB testimony was that he only discussed opening the bank account with Azlin.

Najib also disagreed with Kamal’s contention that the four alleged Arab letters were fake.

The DPP was referring to the testimony of the sovereign wealth fund’s former general counsel Jasmine Loo in the 1MDB trial.

Loo testified seeing one of Low’s alleged associates, the late Kee Kok Thiam, preparing a draft of one of the Arab letters, when she was in London in 2015.

At this juncture, defence counsel Tania Scivetti stood up and asked the prosecution team whether the authorities managed to record Kee’s statement over the alleged faked Arab letter.

“I was advised that we (authorities) were unable to record a statement as Kee passed away,” Kamal told the court.

In 2023, Kee returned to Malaysia and was detained by Malaysian authorities to facilitate an investigation into the 1MDB affair.

However, Kee passed away weeks later due to a “sudden massive stroke”. Loo also returned to Malaysia the same year and has since testified against Najib.

Six years and going

On Oct 30 last year, Najib was ordered to defend himself against four abuse of power and 21 money laundering charges involving RM2.27 billion 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.

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 Low and management members masterminded the embezzlement at the fund.

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