Najib Abdul Razak and fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho tried to cover-up after the 1MDB scandal became public and these include the creation of sham documents to pretend that the former prime minister received money from an "Arab donor" when in actuality the money originated from the state-owned company.
This was put before Kuala Lumpur High Court Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah by lead prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram in his opening statement at the start of Najib's 1MDB trial today.
Najib is facing 25 charges of abuse of power and money laundering involving RM2.28 billion.
"After the 1MDB scandal broke in early July 2015, the accused with his mirror image Jho Low took steps to cover his tracks.
"Sham documents were produced to pretend a donation from an Arab Prince. Among these were letters and four cheques each for a sum of US$25 million purportedly written out by a person said to be the Arab donor.
"But these cheques were never meant to be encashed and were never encashed," said Gopal.
He added that two royal personalities were also involved in the misappropriation of 1MDB funds, particularly in the Good Star phase.
They were one "Prince Faisal" and another "Prince Turki".
"Prince Turki, the accused and Jho Low were so close that they holidayed together on a yacht in the south of France," he said.
Gopal said while the misappropriation of 1MDB funds involved several phases and characters, Najib ultimately played the pivotal role with the intent to enrich himself.
"The prosecution will also produce evidence to show that the accused took active steps to evade justice.
"He interfered with the course of the investigation of this case which came to be known as the 1MDB scandal.
"He took active steps to effect a cover-up of his criminal acts. The prosecution will rely on all this evidence to show that the accused had the requisite mens rea (intention of wrongdoing) when the offences with which he is charged were committed," he said. - Mkini
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.