Najib wraps up 1MDB testimony after 26 days on the stand

Summary

• Najib Abdul Razak wraps up his defence testimony in his RM2.27 billion 1MDB abuse of power and money laundering case after 26 days.

• The former prime minister will call 25 witnesses to testify on his behalf.

1MDB TRIAL | After 26 days, former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak has wrapped up his testimony to defend himself in his RM2.27 billion 1MDB abuse of power and money laundering trial.

The former finance minister this morning concluded giving oral evidence before the High Court convened at Putrajaya.

The former chairperson of 1MDB’s board of advisers began his testimony on Dec 2, after being ordered to defend himself against four abuse of power charges and 21 money laundering counts.

During this period, the 71-year-old underwent examination-in-chief by lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, cross-examination by multiple deputy public prosecutors including Kamal Baharin Omar and Ahmad Akram Gharib, and re-examination by Shafee.

After Najib was released from the witness stand today, Shafee informed trial judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah that they tendered a separate criminal court judgment linked to 1MDB.

He said the ruling is of Najib’s acquittal in a separate criminal case involving alleged wrongdoing in the 1MDB audit report.

Shafee also notified that they would be calling 25 witnesses to testify on Najib’s behalf.

The lead defence counsel said among the defence witnesses are company directors, lawyers, and those who allegedly accompanied Najib to meet a Saudi monarch in 2010.

The trial will resume on Feb 10.

‘Political donation from Saudis’

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.

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 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 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.

‘Signatures looked weird’

Meanwhile, earlier today when he was still in the witness box, Najib disputed the authenticity of signatures alleged to be his on several 1MDB documents.

Najib was disputing the prosecution witness testimony of former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi, who claimed that the accused attended a meeting of the fund’s board of advisers.

“The meeting did not take place, and during the time I was preparing my defence, I noticed my (confirmed) signatures (on other undisputed documents), and I confirm that the signatures on this (disputed documents) look very weird as it looks really very different than my normal signatures, hence I believe none whatsoever took place,” Najib testified. 

The accused said one does not need to refer to a forensic writing expert and only needs a cursory glance to realise that the signatures on the documents being relied on by the prosecution looked different.

Lesson learned

Before stepping down from the witness box, Najib mused that Malaysia’s experience since 2018 has led to increased vigilance against any recurrence of incidents similar to 1MDB.

“I believe with the experience we went through, the country went through, the level of corporate governance and oversight now, I think it is much, much stronger than before.

“Moving forward, there is determination in the country not to see the same debacle again in the future.

“I think that is another thing we could learn from the experience with 1MDB which the country could learn (from), that should not happen again.

“There was a serious systemic failure in the whole episode of 1MDB,” Najib mused.

Initially established as the Terengganu Investment Authority in 2008, the state-owned fund’s ownership was transferred to the federal government the following year and renamed 1MDB.

The sovereign wealth fund’s stated purpose was to ensure long-term sustainable development while safeguarding the economic well-being of Malaysians.

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