Najib Abul Razak has been slapped with three charges under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001, with four earlier charges being amended.
The former premier arrived at the Jalan Duta court complex in Kuala Lumpur this morning in a blue-grey blazer and tie.
He was led straight to the Sessions Court before Judge Azura Alwi, where the new charges were read out.
It was during this time that the court interpreter stumbled in mentioning the monetary figures in the charge sheet, and Najib corrected the figures twice.
This led to slight giggles in the public gallery.
Najib was charged with three counts of money laundering, with regard to three deposits into his AmIslamic Bank account between Dec 26, 2014 and Feb 10, 2015.
The sum of each deposit was RM27 million, RM5 million and RM 10 million respectively.
The former premier was charged under Section 4(1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001.
Under the Act, Najib stands to face a jail term of 15 years, and a fine amounting to five times the money laundered if convicted.
Although the new charges did not mention where the money originated from, sources disclosed yesterday that they were related to SRC International Sdn Bhd, a former subsidiary of 1MDB.
Najib was then led to the High Court, where the charge was read again and the former premier claimed trial.
High Court judge Azman Abdullah presided over the case.
The judge allowed DPP Mohd Hanafiah Zakaria's request to transfer the case involving the three new charges to Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali's court.
DPP Manoj Kurup then took over and requested the court to amend the four charges proffered against Najib on July 4.
The amended charges are:
That you between Dec 24 to Dec 29, 2014, at AmIslamic Bank, as an agent that is the prime minister and finance minister, and advisor emeritus to SRC International, and in that capacity entrusted to have control of RM4 billion, had committed criminal breach of trust of RM27 million, which is an offence under Section 409 of the Penal Code.
- That you between Dec 24 to Dec 29, 2014, at AmIslamic Bank, as an agent that is the prime minister and finance minister, and advisor emeritus to SRC International, and in that capacity entrusted to have control of RM4 billion, had committed criminal breach of trust of RM5 million.
- That you between Feb 10 and March 2, 2015, at AmIslamic Banking, as an agent that is the prime minister and finance minister, and advisor emeritus to SRC International, and in that capacity entrusted to have control of RM4 billion, had committed criminal breach of trust of RM10 million.
- That you between Aug 17, 2011 and Feb 8, 2012, at the PM's office, as a public officer that is the prime minister and finance minister, had abused your position to obtain RM42 million when you were involved in the decision to give a government guarantee of RM4 billion from KWAP (Retirement Fund Inc). This constitutes an offence under Section 23 of the MACC Act.
Under the CBT charge, if convicted, Najib stands to face a jail term between two to 20 years and fine, while for the abuse as a public officer, he can face a maximum of 20 years in jail and five times the amount received.
For the new charges, DPP Manoj said the prosecution would not impose bail, to which Najib's lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah thanked the prosecution.
Justice Nazlan then fixed Friday to hear submissions from both the prosecution and defence on the interim gag order. -Mkini
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