No restrictions on Najib’s statements during 1MDB probe, says witness

 

MACC investigating officer Nur Aida Arifin said the former prime minister was given a lot of leeway when his statements were recorded in 2015 and 2018. (Bernama pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: Former prime minister Najib Razak was given every opportunity to present his side of the story when the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission was investigating him over the 1MDB financial scandal, the High Court here heard today.

MACC investigating officer Nur Aida Arifin said Najib was given a lot of latitude when his statements were recorded in 2015 and 2018.

“We did not place any restriction on him if he wanted to add or make amendments to his statement (in September 2018).

“At the close of recording his statement, he was asked by the recording officer if he wanted to do so,” the prosecution’s 49th witness said when cross-examined by lawyer Wan Azwan Aiman Wan Fakhruddin.

Wan Azwan had accused Aida of taking instructions from her superiors or had deliberately refused to show all the documents relating to the financial scandal.

“We have given Najib every opportunity to defend himself in the course of the investigations,” she said.

Aida said she had also received thousands of documents from local and foreign agencies investigating the scandal, described by the US department of justice in 2016 as the “largest kleptocracy case to date”.

“We can’t refer all documents to him or else it will take months to complete our investigations,” she said.

MACC recorded Najib’s statement as a witness in July 2015, when he was the prime minister.

In January 2016, then attorney-general Apandi Ali cleared Najib of any offences connected to a 1MDB-linked RM2.6 billion “donation” and the RM42 million taken from SRC International Sdn Bhd.

Apandi announced that he had thoroughly studied the papers submitted to him by MACC and ordered the cases closed.

Najib was eventually charged with corruption and abuse of power in 2018 after Pakatan Harapan came to power in the 14th general election.

Aida said MACC also recorded a statement from Najib in September 2018 but, this time, as a suspect before he was charged with offences linked to 1MDB.

On Aug 23, 2022, a five-member Federal Court bench upheld Najib’s conviction and sentence for abuse of power, money laundering and criminal breach of trust involving RM42 million in SRC funds.

Najib is currently standing trial for 25 charges of abuse of power and money laundering over RM2.28 billion in 1MDB funds allegedly deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.

The hearing before Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah has been adjourned to May 25. - FMT