Fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho and two others served the “same boss”, namely Najib Abdul Razak, the Court of Appeal heard today.
Deputy public prosecutor V Sithambaram submitted this today in his counter against arguments by the former prime minister’s legal team that he (Najib) had no knowledge about the transfer of RM42 million into his bank accounts.
During the High Court criminal trial on the RM42 million SRC corruption case in January last year, Najib testified that his former chief private secretary Azlin Alias, former SRC CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil and Low (above) were tasked with managing his bank accounts.
However, Najib had maintained that he had no knowledge about the RM42 million that was deposited in his account through three transactions between late 2014 and early 2015.
During the criminal trial, Najib's defence team had pursued a line of defence that Low, who is known as Jho Low, and several others had conducted transactions involving Najib’s accounts without his knowledge.
The prosecution, on the other hand, had contended that Low was merely acting on the directive of Najib.
The Court of Appeal hearing is in relation to Najib’s appeal to quash his conviction and sentencing over seven charges of abuse of power, criminal breach of trust (CBT) and money laundering involving RM42 million of funds from SRC.
In counter-submitting against Najib's appeal, Sithambaram said that the contentions of both prosecution and defence end up leading to the assertion that Low is just taking directives from Najib.
The DPP said this is because Najib had, during the criminal trial, admitted that Low, Azlin and Nik Faisal were tasked with managing his accounts so that no cheques issued from his bank accounts would bounce.
“Even if Jho Low is behind the scenes, it does not make a difference. As they (Low, Azlin and Nik Faisal) all work for the same boss (Najib), the ultimate boss,” Sithambaram submitted.
The DPP said this is strengthened by the fact that Nik Faisal was the mandate holder appointed by Najib to manage the former prime minister’s accounts.
Sithambaram contended that Nik Faisal, alongside Azlin and several others, were part of Najib’s elaborate scheme to defraud SRC of its monies.
Among the few others cited by the DPP are former Yayasan Rakyat 1Malaysia (YR1M) CEO Ung Su Ling and Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd (IPSB) managing director Shamsul Anwar Sulaiman.
Ung and Shamsul had testified for the prosecution during Najib’s RM42 million SRC trial in the High Court.
The prosecution had contended that the RM42 million of SRC funds had entered Najib’s accounts following a circuitous route that involved IPSB, among other entities.
“There is no evidence to show that they had received any personal benefits in this scheme but were used as pawns by the appellant (Najib) to effect the transfer of the RM42 million from SRC into his personal bank account,” Sithambaram submitted.
Malaysian authorities are still attempting to track down the whereabouts of Nik Faisal and Low.
The hearing is set to continue tomorrow before the three-person Court of Appeal bench chaired by judge Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil.
The other bench members were Court of Appeal judges Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera and Has Zanah Mehat.
On July 28 last year, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur convicted Najib on one count of abuse of power, three counts of CBT and three counts of money laundering in the RM42 million SRC trial.
Trial judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali then sentenced Najib to 12 years in jail and a fine of RM210 million.
The High Court then allowed the defence team's application for a stay of the sentence pending the disposal of his appeal.
The SRC, which was once a subsidiary of troubled sovereign wealth fund 1MDB, later became fully owned by the Minister of Finance Incorporated.
Besides being a former prime minister, Najib also used to be finance minister, SRC’s advisor emeritus and the chairperson of 1MDB’s board of advisers. - Mkini
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