Court rejects Najib's appeal to access bank info on Zeti's family

 

The Court of Appeal threw out Najib Abdul Razak’s appeal to obtain banking information on former Bank Negara governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz’s family.

The three-person bench chaired by Kamaludin Md Said today unanimously dismissed Najib’s appeal meant to bolster the former finance minister’s defence against the ongoing RM2.28 billion 1MDB corruption trial.

Najib is appealing against the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s decision on July 12 last year which dismissed his bid to get the documents.

During the ongoing 1MDB trial, Najib's defence team raised the possibility of Bank Negara oversight - over fund flows into the appellant's bank accounts - may have been compromised by Zeti's family purportedly receiving payments from key 1MDB figure and fugitive Low Taek Jho (Jho Low).

Deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib this morning confirmed the outcome of Najib’s appeal before the bench which included judges Ahmad Nasfy Yasin and Nordin Hassan.

Among the documents Najib sought were the ones allegedly showing Zeti’s family receiving money from Low, whom Malaysian authorities are still attempting to track down.

Najib’s discovery bid was also for United States court documents over former Goldman Sachs managing director Tim Leissner’s disclosure that he bribed several officials from 1MDB.

Tawfiq Ayman

Previously, Malaysiakini reported Zeti’s husband Tawfiq Ayman denying that he had received bribes. The prosecution is also expected to call Zeti to testify in the 1MDB trial against Najib.

25 charges

In the ongoing 1MDB trial before Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah, Najib faces four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering involving RM2.28 billion from the sovereign wealth fund.

1MDB is fully owned by the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MOF Inc).

Previously during the 1MDB trial, Najib’s defence team contended that former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi and several others were in cahoots with Low in the whole affair, of which the former premier claimed he had no knowledge.

Leissner had pleaded guilty to a 1MDB-linked case at a US court, claiming to have bribed 1MDB officials, among other people.

He also testified at a New York court during the 1MDB-linked criminal trial against another former Goldman Sachs banker, Malaysian Roger Ng.

Najib is represented by lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah. - Mkini