NAJIB TRIAL | Former MACC head Dzulkifli Ahmad's testimony at the Kuala Lumpur High Court today shed light on how former attorney-general Apandi Ali cleared former premier Najib Abdul Razak of graft charges.
Dzulkifli (above, right), a defence witness, testified that the MACC made the recommendations on Dec 31, 2015.
At the time, Dzulkifli was part of the attorney-general chambers and was assisting Apandi in perusing MACC's investigation papers on Najib's bank accounts.
"As far as I remember, the MACC proposed to charge Najib under Section 403 of the Penal Code for criminal misappropriation," said Dzulkifli, during the examination-in-chief by defence counsel Shafee Abdullah.
He said the MACC also recommended an alternative charge under Section 23 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 which relates to the use of public office for gratification.
According to Dzulkifli, the MACC's investigation papers failed to show Najib being involved in wrongdoing in relation to the flow of money into his bank accounts, even after Apandi had demanded more proof from the graft busters.
"They didn't answer questions raised (by the attorney-general). There were no statements which showed Najib gave instructions (for the money to be banked into the accounts)," said Dzulkifli.
Dzulkifli said he did not have a direct role in investigations against Najib.
He said he was instructed by Apandi to accompany MACC officers when they recorded statements from former SRC International boss Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil in Indonesia and when they recorded statements from members of the Saudi royal family.
On Jan 26, 2016 Apandi (below) held a press conference to declare that investigations against Najib for allegedly misappropriating RM2.6 billion from 1MDB and RM42 million from SRC International had ceased and that there would be no further action.
Dzulkifli was appointed the new head of MACC on Aug 1, 2016.
Investigations against Najib were revived after BN lost the May 2018 elections and a new government was formed.
Meanwhile, Dzulkifli told the court that the MACC had recommended charges against Najib although the latter's statement had yet to be recorded. Dzulkifli claimed that this was not proper.
Dzulkifli was referring to the previous testimony of ACP R Raja Gopal, who represented the then inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar during a meeting by the multi-agency 1MDB task force back on July 4, 2015.
At the material time, said Dzulkifli, investigators were recommending the charge although statements had yet to be recorded from key witnesses such as Nik Faisal, Jho Low and Prince Saud among others.
Prince Saud was allegedly the one who signed four letters which purportedly suggested that Saudi Arabia was donating money to Najib.
"For any case, this cannot be done, because the statements are very important for proving the core of the offences. If there are no statements, then how to charge?
"For me, it (investigation into the RM2.6 billion donation and RM42 million of SRC International) is complete and the attorney-general (Apandi) had made his decision (to close the case)," Dzulkifli said.
Proceedings resume before Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali tomorrow morning, with the prosecution expected to cross-examine Dzulkifli.
Najib is on trial for one charge of abuse of power, three charges of CBT and three counts of money laundering in relation to RM42 million from SRC International, a former subsidiary of 1MDB which later became fully-owned by Minister of Finance Inc in early 2012. Najib was then also finance minister. - Mkini
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