Najib tells court it's normal practice for AG to brief PM on cases

Summary

• Najib Abdul Razak testifies it is normal for the attorney-general to brief the prime minister over public interest cases.

• The ex-premier was rubbishing prosecution’s claim it was improper for the accused to have a telephone conversation with then DPP Dzulkifli Ahmad in 2016 over the 1MDB probe.

• UPDATED 1.38PM | Najib recalls another time he was unfairly blamed for AG’s decision when ex-minister Ling Liong Sik was charged with cheating.

1MDB TRIAL | Najib Abdul Razak has testified that it was normal practice for the attorney-general (AG) to brief the prime minister on cases of public interest.

The former prime minister told the High Court in Putrajaya this today to refute the prosecution's contention that he tried to interfere in the 1MDB investigation via a telephone conversation with then-deputy public prosecutor Dzulkifli Ahmad in 2016.

Najib was giving his explanation during the RM2.27 billion 1MDB abuse of power and money laundering trial against him. His lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah was conducting a re-examination.

Shafee: For an AG or any of his deputies that may be given a job, was it usual for them to brief the prime minister every now and then on cases of public interest?

Najib: Yes, that is the usual practice, but we are mindful not to interfere in public prosecutor’s action, in public interest (cases).

Shafee: You can give certain directions (to the AG and public prosecutor over criminal cases)?

Najib: No.

Yesterday during cross-examination, deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib contended that it was not proper for Najib to have a conversation with Dzulkifli over the 1MDB investigation.

Not the first time getting blamed

During Shafee's re-examination today, Najib remembered another incident where he was also unfairly blamed as the premier for the AG’s decision to charge a former transport minister.

"I just recalled there was a time when someone was charged and I got the blame when it was the AG’s decision, I did not interfere, but I got blamed as (then) prime minister.

"Ling Liong Sik charged, that was (then AG) Gani (Patail’s) decision, but I got blamed. Since then, we (Najib and Ling) are not on speaking terms," Najib told the court.

Najib was referring to a multi-billion ringgit Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) project scandal in which Ling was charged with cheating in 2010.

However, Ling was discharged and acquitted in 2013.

‘No interference in 1MDB probe’

During Shafee's questioning, Najib explained that he never directed Dzulkifli to do something favourable during the 2016 telephone conversation.

Najib: No. If I had, I would have been charged over it.

Shafee: Have you been charged or investigated (over the telephone conversation)?

Najib: I was not charged.

Shafee: Were you investigated for tampering with the investigation?

Najib: Not at all.

Shafee: Was your statement recorded (by MACC as part of the investigation) over this conversation?

Najib: Not at all.

Shafee: There was no investigation?

Najib: Nothing.

The ex-premier pointed out he never sought any favours from Dzulkifli during the conversation.

Meanwhile, Najib testified that the United States Department of Justice's (DOJ) investigation into the 1MDB issue was not fair as they never tried to get his side of the story.

The ex-premier noted that the DOJ, among others, only took statements from former MACC chief commissioner Abu Kassim Mohamed.

Shafee: I want to ask you. Do you know how the DOJ proceeded with this matter in the US?

Najib: I knew later that apparently, Abu Kassim gave info to the DOJ.

Shafee: Gave information to DOJ on (press) release (over US investigation into alleged money laundering of 1MDB funds)?

Najib: Yes.

Shafee: Was your statement taken (by DOJ)?

Najib: No.

Shafee: Your statement would not have been there for DOJ to make a full assessment?

Najib: Yes.

Shafee: Is that an action full of integrity?

Najib: It is (an) unfair action as they should have referred to me and got my side of the story.

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.

Judge Collin Lawrence 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.

Throughout the trial, Najib maintained he had no knowledge or involvement in wrongdoing at 1MDB, and that all embezzlement there was solely masterminded by fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) and its management.

The accused also relied on the defence that he was led to believe that the billions of ringgit that flowed into his bank account were donations from Saudi Arabian royalty, following his meeting with the Middle Eastern kingdom's late ruler King Abdullah in 2010.

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