KUALA LUMPUR: Najib Razak ought not to be asked to enter his defence in his corruption and abuse of power trial just to satisfy someone’s curiosity, the High Court heard today.
Lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said the defence had instead shown that the prosecution had failed to prove every ingredient of the charges the ex-prime minister is facing.
“It is not fair to order him (Najib ) to enter his defence just to know what he has to say about the charges,” he said in wrapping up the defence submission at the close of the prosecution’s case.
He said his client had no knowledge of the RM42 million deposited into his private accounts and he believed all cheques and payments were issued through Arab donations.
Shafee said the prosecution may also want to know why fugitive financier Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, did things in this way or that way.
“Why deal with a conman who was using good money to make bad dealings?”
Shafee said the court must also give favourable inferences to Najib in deciding whether his client should be acquitted or to enter his defence.
He said the court should reject all secondary documentary and hearsay evidence tendered by the prosecution as these were inadmissible.
Shafee said Najib was transparent when he opened his bank account with Ambank in 2011 and even the then Bank Negara Malaysia governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz was kept informed.
However, he said it was Jho Low. with the assistance of some rogue bankers. who manipulated Najib’s accounts.
“When the bank asked for alternate names for his accounts, it was Jho Low who gave the names,” he said.
Shafee said Najib had given the mandate to the then SRC International Sdn Bhd CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil to handle his bank accounts but it was revealed in court that Jho Low was playing the function.
The lawyer said between 2011 and 2013 substantial amounts of money came from an Arab prince and this included US$680 million that ended in his accounts.
“He spent the money for the 2013 election and returned the balance of US620 million (RM2.6 billion).
“What type of crook could he have been? The money had circulated around the world and he returned it,” he said, adding that Najib did not have any dishonest intention in committing the offences.
Shafee said there was no case of abuse of power committed by Najib under Section 23 (3) of the MACC Act as he had no interest in SRC, which was a government-linked company.
“This is because Section 23 (4) provided immunity to him as the then prime minister and finance minister when he represented another public body like SRC,” he said.
Najib, he said, could not have misappropriated RM42 million as that money was not from SRC but part of a donation from an Arab prince.
The lawyer said Najib’s money laundering charges also crumbled when the prosecution failed to prove the predicate offences of abuse of power and CBT.
Najib, 66, is facing three counts of CBT, one charge of abusing his position and three counts of money laundering over SRC International funds amounting to RM42 million.
The Pekan MP was charged with committing the offences at AmIslamic Bank Bhd on Jalan Raja Chulan and the Prime Minister’s Office in Putrajaya between Aug 17, 2011, and Feb 10, 2015.
Nazlan will deliver his ruling at 10am on Nov 11. - FMT
"I DID NOT KNOW" is a lame excuse. Najib is responsible for his own Current a/c. In that case since this mongrel is claiming "donation money" HELLO BROTHER, When Apandi displayed the MACC flowchart to the press and SRC documents and SRC was clearly marked, WHY DIDN'T PAY UP HIS DEBT OF RM42 MILL. He knew exactly what he was doing.
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