Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak and 1MDB’s former CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy have been acquitted of abuse of power involving the audit of the sovereign wealth fund.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court this morning ruled that the prosecution failed to establish a prima facie (answerable) case against the duo.
Najib (above, right), also a former finance minister, was charged with using his position as then-prime minister to order amendments to 1MDB’s final audit report before it was presented to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in 2016 to prevent any action against him.
Arul Kanda (above, left) was charged with abetting Najib in making the amendments.
Najib is currently serving a 12-year jail sentence in a separate RM42 million SRC International corruption case.
In reading out his ruling today, trial judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan said that in regard to the charge against Najib, then auditor-general (AG) Ambrin Buang - who carried out the audit of 1MDB - was granted independence to carry out his duties due to security of tenure under Article 105 of the Federal Constitution.
The judge said that Ambrin is conferred wide powers under the Audit Act 1957.
“The AG is, therefore, given the independence to carry out his duties without fear and favour. There are consequently very few reasons, if any, for the AG to be cowed, coerced, or forced to make any decisions contrary to his belief or duties.
“He strikes me as determined to carry out his duties diligently and does not suffer fools gladly. He would answer any questions posed to the point and did not mince his words when required, He is the epitome of professionalism,” Zaini said.
The judge noted that Ambrin's audit of 1MDB was independently done based on documents provided by Arul, noting that this would not have been necessary if the fund's management team had been more cooperative in the audit.
‘No link between amendments, alleged graft’
The judge noted that “there is no causal link between the amendments made and the gratification alleged”.
“There is no evidence to suggest or prove that the second accused (Najib) had explicitly directed the amendments made to exonerate him from civil or criminal liability.
“He was merely concerned that the (1MDB audit) report could be spun politically. The prosecution has not established how the items removed or amended could give rise to civil or criminal liability to the second accused.
“In my opinion, the items taken out or amended from the earlier audit report would not expose or give rise to any civil or criminal liability to the second accused. The amendments, as stated by the AG, were justified,” the judge said.
Zaini said that Arul Kanda had made a “full and full discovery” of the case, which netted the accused a certificate of indemnity amounting to an acquittal.
The judge observed that Arul Kanda was consistent throughout his testimony, answered the questions posed honestly and to the best of his ability, and was compatible with all documents produced and testimonies of other witnesses.
Zaini noted that Arul Kanda did not try to minimise his part and amplify any wrongdoing by Najib and that Arul’s testimony favoured the former prime minister.
“The prosecution in the ex-examination had neither challenged any of the answers he had given under cross-examination that favoured the second accused (Najib) nor was there any attempt to treat him as a hostile witness,” the judge said, noting that the prosecution failed to highlight any discrepancies on Arul Kanda’s testimony.
“The first accused did not attempt to camouflage the shenanigans surrounding 1MDB. He was roped in to rescue the company and had left what was presumably a promising career abroad.
“It is general knowledge that he had been publicly vilified for the 1MDB affairs, perhaps unfairly, as many of the problems caused were before his time.
“There was neither evidence in this trial to suggest he was complicit or responsible for the problems afflicting 1MDB, nor were there any suggestion made by the prosecution,” Zaini said.
Previously, the prosecution was allowed to call Arul Kanda to testify against Najib.
Zaini’s acquittal of Arul Kanda follows on the heels of the court issuing a certificate of indemnity to him over the testimony.
When met by the media at the entrance to the Kuala Lumpur Courts Complex after proceedings today, lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said that his client Najib has been vindicated by the verdict.
“He (Najib) communicated to us he is so relieved that the judge has made the findings,” the lawyer said, adding that the court ruled there was no element of corruption or gratification in the case.
Shafee described the 1MDB audit case as among the politically charged cases, besides the RM42 million SRC International case among others.
“This (1MDB audit case) is the first case out of all the politically-charged cases that we got a good result. We hope the Attorney-General’s Chambers would not appeal.
“We hope this is the beginning of many good things to come,” Shafee told journalists.
Meanwhile, when met by the media after proceedings, Arul Kanda expressed his gratitude for the verdict and the support he received from his family and supporters all these years.
“Justice has been served. The facts speak for themselves. I was honest in what I did (at 1MDB),” he said, while jokingly remarking it is time to update his resume.
On Sept 7 last year, the prosecution rested its case against the duo after calling 16 witnesses, including Arul Kanda, to testify in the trial that spanned 43 days.
Other witnesses
Since the trial began on Nov 18, 2019, others who took the witness stand for the prosecution were former chief secretary to the government Ali Hamsa, former auditors-general Ambrin Buang and Madinah Mohamad, National Audit Department officer Nor Salwani Muhammad, and Najib’s former principal private secretary Shukry Mohd Salleh.
Salwani previously testified that she saved a copy of the original 1MDB audit report from being destroyed before the alleged modifications took effect on the report that was to be tabled before the PAC in 2016.
The prosecution contended that following a meeting on Feb 24, 2016, a decision was made to remove or alter certain portions of the 1MDB audit report, including dropping the presence of fugitive businessperson and key figure Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) at the board meetings of 1MDB.
Another issue that was allegedly dropped from the audit report was two conflicting 2014 financial statements of the sovereign wealth fund.
Besides Arul and Ali, others who were present at the meeting were Ambrin, former National Audit Department officer Saadatul Nafisah Bashir Ahmad, Shukry, and then Attorney-General’s Chambers representative Dzulkifli Ahmad.
Previously a subsidiary of 1MDB, SRC later became wholly owned by the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MOF Inc), which also wholly owned the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund.
Najib used to be adviser emeritus to SRC and chairperson of 1MDB’s board of advisers as well.
After having exhausted the appeals process at the Court of Appeal and Federal Court, Najib has resorted to a review application to nullify the guilty verdict and sentencing in the RM42 million SRC case, with the apex court set to deliver its decision on the bid by March 31.
The former Pekan MP also has three other pending criminal court cases, namely the RM2.28 billion 1MDB corruption trial, a separate SRC International money laundering case involving RM27 million, and an RM6.6 billion International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) criminal breach of trust case.
Former Treasury secretary-general Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah is a co-accused in the IPIC case. - Mkini
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