I only 'cut and pasted' Arab donor statement, MACC officer testifies

Summary

• MACC investigating officer Mohd Nasharudin Amir agrees with the prosecution that he merely did a “cut and paste” of the statement of a representative of the alleged Arab prince who promised donation to former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.

• The accused is relying on the defence of a 2010 donation promise by late Saudi Monarch King Abdullah to counter an RM2.27 billion 1MDB abuse of power and money laundering case.

1MDB TRIAL | An MACC investigating officer agreed that he only “cut and pasted” the statement of the alleged Arab donor to former premier Najib Abdul Razak, the High Court in Putrajaya heard this morning.

Najib’s defence witness Nasharudin Amir agreed with a suggestion by deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib during the RM2.27 billion 1MDB abuse of power and money laundering case against the accused.

The prosecution team contended that a delegation comprising MACC and Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) officers to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in November 2015, failed to authenticate four alleged Arab letters promising donation to Najib.

The Malaysian delegation - which included Nasharudin - sought to record the statement of the alleged Arab prince who authored the letters. However, Nasharudin only managed to record the statement of Abdullah al-Koman, the attorney of the purported royal.

Akram: You agree if I suggest that this four-and-a-half-page statement (of al-Koman) was already prepared beforehand (before the delegation's arrival in Riyadh) and your job and Hafaz (Nazar, an MACC recording officer) were only to cut and paste the MACC statement.

Nasharudin: Yes.

The MACC senior assistant commissioner agreed with Akram that he and Hafaz did not ask any additional questions from al-Koman while recording the statement, nor did the representative of the alleged Arab royal provide any supporting documents.

Nasharudin testified that he was not satisfied with the outcome of recording al-Koman’s statement.

He was not certain whether the alleged Arab donor was even present from three purported Arabs who met the delegation at a royal palace in Riyadh.

Nasharudin also said he was not certain whether the money that flowed into Najib’s Malaysian bank account came from the alleged Arab royalty represented by al-Koman.

Akram: From your point of view, from the beginning of the trip to Saudi and to completion, it was already planned, you only went there to complete the “cerita” (narrative), and did not ask any (questions from the alleged Arab donor), go there to eat and then go back (to Malaysia)?

Nasharudin: Yes, correct.

Nasharudin also agreed with Akram that the “cut and paste” method was also used when he recorded the statement of Tan Kim Loong in Riyadh. Tan is an associate of alleged 1MDB mastermind and fugitive Low Taek Jho or Jho Low.

Nasharudin explained to the prosecutor that MACC had to resort to the mutual legal assistance treaty between Malaysia and Singapore to try to obtain further information over the alleged donation issue.

Prosecutors contended that Najib received funds funnelled from 1MDB via a circuitous multijurisdictional route that included a bank in Singapore.

Previously, during the 1MDB trial, Nasharudin’s superior Fikri Abdul Rahim, who was part of the same delegation to Riyadh, testified about the outcome of the investigation there.

Fikri testified among others that the delegation was treated like VIP guests of the state and allowed to perform umrah in Mecca before they managed to meet the alleged Arab prince.

Fikri’s testimony stated that the delegation also met Tan alongside the alleged Arab prince.

The 2015 Malaysian delegation to Riyadh also included then MACC officer Azam Baki, who is now its chief commissioner, and then AGC officer Dzulkifli Ahmad (who later helmed MACC from 2016 to 2018).

The trial resumes on Monday next week.

Prima facie case

On Oct 30, the criminal court ordered Najib to enter his defence over four abuses of power and 21 money laundering charges involving RM2.27 billion from 1MDB.

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

Between early December last year and late January this year, Najib spent 26 days on the witness stand trying to raise reasonable doubt in the prosecution’s case.

Najib contended that he had neither knowledge nor involvement in wrongdoing at 1MDB, and that embezzlement at the troubled Malaysian sovereign wealth fund was solely masterminded by fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) and other members of its management.

The former finance minister also contended that he was given a donation promise by the late Saudi King monarch King Abdullah during a meeting between them in Riyadh in 2010.

The accused has been serving a six-year jail sentence since August 2022 over a separate graft case involving RM42 million from SRC, a former subsidiary of 1MDB.

Najib's lawyers unable to find defence witness

MACC officer testifying for Najib denies ex-PM helped with promotions

1MDB: MACC officer denies 'improvising' testimony to back Najib

1MDB: Ex-minister says late Saudi monarch, Najib like father and son

Low claimed he had good relationship with Najib: T'ganu sultan's sister

Najib excitedly told me about Saudi financial aid promise: Ex-envoy