Running M'sia bigger than 1MDB, I can't micromanage - Najib

Summary

• Najib Abdul Razak testifies that running the country as the prime minister was much bigger than 1MDB, hence he could not micromanage the fund when its management members misled him.

• The ex-premier claims the wrongdoing is solely masterminded by fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) and members of 1MDB's management.

1MDB TRIAL | Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak testified in the High Court in Putrajaya today that he could not be involved in wrongdoing via micromanaging 1MDB as he was running the entire country which was bigger than the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund.

The former finance minister said this was why he was misled by members of 1MDB's management, who were entrusted with duties in the fund.

During re-examination by lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, Najib reminded the prosecution that it was impossible for him to follow up on every nook and cranny of 1MDB as he had the “gargantuan” task of running Malaysia as the prime minister between 2009 and 2018.

The accused remarked that many of the former members of management that were allegedly involved in embezzlement at the fund were never charged with the crime but instead made into prosecution witnesses against him in the RM2.27 billion 1MDB abuse of power and money laundering trial.

Najib contended that he was misled by the true masterminds behind the embezzlement as he was preoccupied with managing the entire of Malaysia for the benefit of the people.

Najib: You need to rely on the system, if (1MDB) management gave the wrong picture, then you are incapable of getting the full picture.

Shafee: (Deputy public prosecutor Ahmad) Akram (Gharib) said you micromanaged 1MDB.

Najib: He (Akram) does not understand the role of the prime minister managing the entire country, the entire country is not 1MDB but much larger than that (fund).

The accused maintained that he had no knowledge or involvement in wrongdoing at 1MDB and that all embezzlement at the fund was solely masterminded by fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) and members of its management.

Among the former members of management who became prosecution witnesses are 1MDB's former CEOs Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi and Mohd Hazem Abd Rahman, former general counsel Jasmine Loo, and former chief financial officer Azmi Tahir.

During Shafee's questioning, Najib pointed out that the situation of 1MDB's management misleading him is not unique to the fund as it already happened at blue chip international investment banks like Goldman Sachs.

He noted that the Wall Street entity was misled by its own management in relation to wrongdoing linked to 1MDB.

"A very stellar blue chip corporate giant like Goldman Sachs, you have brilliant people at Goldman, but they (company) were misled by their own management, as we know, they had to pay billions (of US dollars to the United States enforcement authorities) as a result.

"It can even happen to an organisation like Goldman Sachs. Tim Leissner and Roger Ng were convicted in the US," Najib said, referring to two former Goldman Sachs bankers.

Ng was sentenced to 10 years in jail over involvement in embezzlement of funds at 1MDB, while Leissner is still awaiting sentencing by a US court.

When Shafee queried over four alleged Arab letters promising donation to Najib, the former premier noted that he did not spend the donation money on matters unrelated to the benefit of Malaysia.

"I chose to spend it in the context of what is good for the country. One can see from the cheques issued transparently.

"I did not use it to buy a yacht or a luxury bungalow or things like that, which I could have done, I meant you take the literal meaning of this (alleged Arab letter).

"I could have gone shopping but I did not, and I made it transparent by issuing cheques," Najib remarked.

Previously, Najib testified that he issued several cheques related to Corporate Social Responsibility for the good of the people and not for his personal benefit.

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.

The former Pekan MP has been taking the witness stand to defend himself since Dec 2 last year, spending 22 days giving oral evidence.

He was cross-examined by the prosecution for 10 days, with prosecutors having wrapped up their grilling yesterday afternoon.

Today, Najib began his re-examination by Shafee.

Besides the defence that other people masterminded the embezzlement, the former premier also claimed he was led to believe that billions of ringgit that flowed into his account were linked to a 2010 donation promise by the late Saudi Arabian monarch King Abdullah.

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