Shafee read 'Billion Dollar Whale' thrice, but maybe with eyes closed - author

Despite Shafee Abdullah claiming to have read Billion Dollar Whale three times, its author Tom Wright said he disagrees with the senior lawyer saying that the book could potentially absolve his client, former premier Najib Abdul Razak, of 1MDB-linked charges.

"I do not agree with Shafee's reading of the book.

"Nowhere in the book is it stated that Najib did not know about that (the source of the money in his bank accounts)," said Wright during a dialogue session held in conjunction with The Cooler Lumpur festival in Kuala Lumpur today.

Wright said this when asked for comments on Shafee's repeated claims that portions of Billion Dollar Whale demonstrated Najib's purported innocence in the 1MDB scandal.

The author also quipped that Shafee may have read the book three times, but still failed to understand its contents.

"He said he read the book three times, but I feel like he read it three times with his eyes closed," he said.

Shafee on Thursday offered to debate Wright over specific discrepancies which he claimed he had uncovered in the book.

Among others, Shafee said while some paragraphs had stated that Najib was misled by fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho, other parts of the book had concluded that Najib may know about the slush fund.

Shafee also previously claimed he was "very excited" about the prospect of the book being tendered as evidence in Najib's ongoing trials.

-Mkini