'Work in silo' not my leadership style, Najib testifies

Summary

• Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak testifies in court that it is not his leadership style to work in a silo as claimed by former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi.

• Najib says he values transparency and the work-in-silo culture would have fostered corruption and fraud.

1MDB TRIAL | Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak testified it was not his leadership style to work in a silo as claimed by the prosecution at the High Court in Putrajaya today.

As such, he rubbished the prosecution’s contention that he adopted such a working method in order to hide any wrongdoing at 1MDB.

During re-examination by lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, Najib explained that such a work culture was never practised at 1MDB and the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) as his administration focused on transparency and teamwork.

“This (work in silo claim) is not a correct description of my style of leadership as, in the context of the PMO for example, every time there was a cabinet meeting, the decision of the cabinet is transmitted to various personalities, individuals, and units in PMO. The meetings (to these various units after cabinet meetings) were chaired by the chief private secretary.

“They inform of government policy and (cabinet) decision, and coordinated by the chief private secretary. It was never seen as work in silo.

“But there are certain issues pertaining to certain matters like the Official Secrets Act (OSA), then that required certain security clearance. Apart from that, we worked as a team,” said Najib who used to helm the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MOF Inc), which owned 1MDB.

Blue ocean strategy

During today’s RM2.27 billion 1MDB abuse of power and money laundering trial against him, Najib explained that the work-in-silo culture results in people working in a vacuum or isolation, thus being unable to work with other team members.

The accused recalled that he introduced the Blue Ocean Strategy during his administration between 2009 and 2018 in order to break down the walls between governmental departments and encourage them to coordinate and maximise the utilisation of government resources. 

Shafee: Does working in silos amount to good governance?

Najib: No, it does not.

Najib also refuted former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi's testimony of a work-in-silo culture at the fund as directed by fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low.

“No, this was anathema to my leadership, as I also previously chaired Khazanah and Petronas, there was no such directive from me,” the accused told trial judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah.

When he began testifying in his defence in December last year, Najib testified that he would not have condoned such a work-in-silo practice if it existed.

“Secrecy fosters corruption within any institution and encourages fraudulent behaviour in any corporation. Furthermore, based on the prosecution witnesses’ testimonies, it is clear that there was no actual implementation of a ‘work in silo’ arrangement at 1MDB.

“Instead, the witnesses’ evidence reveals a coordinated criminal scheme carried out without my knowledge,” Najib had testified then. 

'Harakiri to intentionally receive doubtful funds’

Shafee asked whether Najib had ever entertained the notion that funds that flowed into his account were from a source other than Saudi Arabian royalty.

The accused said he did not and that he would not have received the money if he had a shadow of a doubt.

"I would be causing a lot of problems for myself if I knew and did nothing about it, in a sense I would be committing harakiri," Najib explained over his belief that the money originated from Middle Eastern royalty and not from unlawful sources.

Harakiri is a suicide ritual practised by disgraced Japanese samurais.

‘Jho Low the mastermind’

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 from 1MDB.

Sequerah ruled that the prosecution succeeded in establishing a prima facie (answerable) case against Najib due to the strength of some 50 witness testimonies.

The former prime minister was first charged in 2018 and the trial started the year after. The prosecution stage of the trial lasted six years.

Since the prima facie ruling, Najib has been testifying since Dec 2 last year to defend himself against the charges.

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

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

The accused also relied on the defence that he was led to believe that the money that went into his account was a political donation from Saudi Arabia, as promised by the late monarch King Abdullah during a 2010 meeting.

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