'Najib claims Arab donation to thwart opposition attempt to topple govt'

 

1MDB TRIAL | Najib Abdul Razak claimed he initially kept part of the US$681 million of alleged Arab donation in 2013 to thwart another attempt by the opposition to topple the government, the Kuala Lumpur High Court heard today.

MACC investigating officer Nur Aida Arifin confirmed excerpts of a 2018 MACC statement recorded from the former prime minister during the anti-graft watchdog investigation into the 1MDB affair after the 14th general election earlier that year.

During deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib’s re-examination, the 49th prosecution witness read out the statement given to the MACC over the inflow of US$681 million of purported Arab donations into the accused’s bank account in 2013.

Around US$620 million from his account went into Tanore Finance Corporation’s bank account in Singapore later in the same year. Najib’s defence team have always contended that the funds were not money from 1MDB but rather from Saudi royalty for political purposes.

“After the completion of GE13 (in 2013), the funds could not be finished as the expenditure was sufficient. The amount remaining after the general election I had kept temporarily in the account as a contingency in case there is an extraordinary requirement, such as the Sept 16, 2008, incident where BN lawmakers were stolen (party-hopping), whereby the opposition tried to buy them out.

“Therefore, I was forced to be ready financially despite me not agreeing with this practice, due to fear that the opposition may try again.

“However, when no such movement happened, I felt the need to return it (funds) to the one who transferred the money into my account, namely someone appointed by Saudi Arabia, Tanore Finance Corp,” Nur Aida read out the portion of Najib’s MACC statement.

The numbers game

GE12 in 2008 saw BN lose its two-thirds majority in Dewan Rakyat for the first time in history, then-opposition leader (and now prime minister) Anwar Ibrahim claimed that he had the numbers (of potential defectors from the BN coalition) to topple the then government.

Prosecutors claimed that the US$681 million that flowed into Najib’s account is part of the overall RM2.27 billion misappropriated from troubled Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB between 2011 and 2014.

However, Najib’s defence team contended that the former premier had no knowledge of any wrongdoing at 1MDB and any wrongdoing that may have happened was solely masterminded by fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) and members of the troubled Malaysian sovereign wealth fund’s management.

The former chairperson of 1MDB’s board of advisers also previously contended that the late King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia promised the accused financial donation for political purposes.

The trial before judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah resumes this afternoon, with former Bank Negara Malaysia Zeti Akhtar Aziz expected to take the witness stand to be cross-examination by Najib’s legal team.

Najib is on trial for four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering involving RM2.27 billion from 1MDB.

For the four abuse of power charges, the former Pekan MP allegedly committed the offences at AmIslamic Bank Bhd’s Jalan Raja Chulan branch in Bukit Ceylon, Kuala Lumpur, between Feb 24, 2011, and Dec 19, 2014.

On the 21 money laundering counts, Najib purportedly committed the offences at the same bank between March 22, 2013, and Aug 30, 2013.

Minister of Finance Incorporated fully owned 1MDB where Najib was the board of advisers’ chairperson.

The accused was first charged on Sept 20, 2018, and his criminal trial began on Aug 28, 2019. - Mkini