How do you hoodwink a judge that you were not corrupt even though you had stolen money, never mind whether the amount was RM2.27 billion or just 1% of it, which translates to RM22,000,000? Former Prime Minister Najib Razak’s hotshot attorney might have found the answer – convince the court that his client was actually the Robin Hood, who stole from the rich and gave to the poor.
But there is one huge problem. He isn’t the legendary heroic outlaw called Robin Hood, but the despicable corrupt prime minister called Najib Razak. Neither is Najib a highly skilled archer and swordsman, even though he is indeed a highly skilled crook and liar. And he stole from the poor taxpayers and gave to his gang of rich politicians so that the ill-gotten money could be used to buy votes.
Hilariously, during Najib’s trial over the misappropriation of RM2.27 billion of 1Malaysia Development Berhad’s (1MDB) funds, lead defence lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah argued that because 99% of the stolen money was not for Najib’s personal use, his client cannot be considered a corrupt man. He claimed the money was spent for the benefit of the public.
Even if Najib had spent 99% of the RM2.27 billion for corporate social responsibility, social welfare and political purposes as claimed, which he didn’t and could not fully prove he did, the personal spending of 1% of RM2.27 billion (or RM22 million as admitted by Shafee) is still a mega corruption by any standard. In comparison, a couple was sentenced to 28 days in prison and fined RM3,000 for stealing 19 packets of Milo.
Going by Najib’s hotshot lawyer’s logic, if his client can walk free for spending like Robin Hood, the married couple (Mohamad Nor Azam Bakar and Noor Azura Rosslan) too should not go to jail for spending like a prophet – stealing to obtain money to cover dialysis treatment costs for Nor Azam’s mother, as well as for their 5 children, two of whom are disabled.
If the poor married couple had to spend 28 days in prison for stealing eight packets of 2kg Milo worth RM358.96 from a supermarket, then Najib must be fairly sentenced to a jail term equivalent to 61,288 times heavier. That would be 1,716,064 days (or 4,700 years) in prison. Exactly why Najib can be allowed to steal RM22 million, but the Malay couple must be jailed for stealing Milo worth RM358.96?
“If I were a robber, I would have used the money for personal purposes,” – Shafee told the criminal court during the RM2.27 billion 1MDB scandal, where his client is facing 25 counts of abuse of power and money laundering charges. Again, using his silly logic, does that mean a bank account can be used for drug trafficking as long as 1% of the dirty money used for personal purposes?
Just because Najib did not use up 100% of the money, which his genius attorney already admitted was stolen from 1MDB, it does not mean the spending behaviour is against the pathology of corruption. Likewise, just because Najib could not perform “spoon” on Rosmah Mansor, and could only do the traditional missionary position, it does not mean the couple did not engage in sex.
Shafee also argued that Najib’s return of US$620 million of the US$681 million deposited into his bank accounts showed that he did not have any bad faith. Like a broken record, Najib’s highly paid lawyers have argued that the ex-premier believed the money he had received in his bank accounts were donations from Saudi Arabia’s royalty. Shafee even had the cheek to show four fabricated letters from a dubious Saudi prince.
Najib Razak, the disgraced former Malaysian prime minister sent to 12 years in prison for corruption, is a known serial liar. There are tonnes of lies he had spewed over the years. When he was still in power, he lied that he did not know his partner-in-crime Jho Low, not to mention repetitively said he did not steal any money – even after US$681 million (RM2.6 billion) was found in his bank accounts.
When he was first linked to the 1MDB scandal, he kept denying that he knew Jho Low or had siphoned money from the US$6.5 billion in bonds that Goldman Sachs helped to raise between 2009 and 2014. When that failed, he diverted the attention to Saudi, knowing very well the gullible Malay Muslims will believe anything he said whenever the “Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques” card is flashed.
There were basically three phases of “lies” that Najib had mastered over the years in his political career. First – “deny” all the allegations. Second, when you cannot deny anymore, “divert” the attention elsewhere. Third, “blame” everyone except himself and his families. Repeat the process again until people get confused and sick and tired of his lies.
He has many favourite lies in his pockets. One of them was that the money which he had stolen was donations from Arab royal family. Another favourite lie was that he had returned US$620 million to the senders. But all those lies have been debunked, one after another, as the trials progress, including the trial involving RM42 million stolen from SRC International Sdn Bhd(a subsidiary of 1MDB), which he had lost and sent to prison.
The real explosive 1MDB scandal saw its first trial involving ex-Goldman banker Roger Ng Chong Hwa in a federal court in Brooklyn, New York, in 2022. The trial of Mr Ng, a Malaysian, had opened a can of worms which was absolutely damaging to the former Malaysian premier at a critical time when he embarks on a journey to make a comeback as prime minister again.
For example, the despicable man can no longer claim that the US$681 million was donations from Saudi royal family. In the trial against Ng, the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) testified in the court that not only Jho Low had stolen US$1.42 billion (RM6 billion), Najib Razak similarly stole US$756 million (RM3.2 billion) while his stepson, Riza Aziz, pocketed US$238 million (RM1 billion)
Not only the testimony from FBI forensic accountant Eric Van Dorn was the first time the U.S. authorities have detailed how those involved in the 1MDB deals were paid and how much they received, it has confirmed for the third time – after previous confirmation from the U.S. DOJ and U.S. Securities Commission – that there was no Saudi donations whatsoever, as claimed by Najib.
In 2022, for the first time since Najib hoodwinked 4-million gullible Malays in the 2018 General Election, the American jury finally got a look at “hard proof” of the treasure bought with the so-called US$620 million that Najib claimed to have had returned. Part of the stolen money was used to buy a 22-carat pink diamond necklace worth a staggering US$23 million (RM97 million) for Najib’s wife – Rosmah Mansor.
But how could that happen when Najib had returned the donation money? Here’s where Najib should be given a Grammy Award for his lies. It was only half-truth when he said US$620 million had been returned. What he didn’t tell his stupid supporters was that he did not return the money to the Saudi royal family (because there was none to begin with), but had transferred it to Tanore Finance Corp. account in Singapore.
Tanore Finance had been just a staging account set up by Jho Low and Najib Razak to be diverted again to fund their lavish lifestyle. The account had nothing to do with Saudi government or the kingdom’s royal family. In fact, a month after the US$620 million was returned to the Tanore, the money was used to purchase a 22-K pink diamond necklace for Rosmah (refer to chart).
According to U.S.-DOJ investigations as early as 2017, Jho Low had arranged for jewellery designer Lorraine Schwartz (also known as “Jewish Queen of Oscar Bling”) for the pink diamond – with a heart-shaped gem – on June 2, 2013. In August the same year, Najib conveniently returned US$620 million to Tanore Finance, after receiving US$681 million from the same account in March 2013.
Apparently, Rosmah wanted an 18-carat diamond, but Schwartz said she only had a 22-carat pink diamond. Schwartz subsequently travelled to Monaco on July 5, 2013 and met Jho Low aboard the Topaz, one of the largest private yachts in the world built at a cost of €400 million. Jho Low had chartered the 147-meter yacht for 7 days at a cost of €3.5 million.
Aboard the Topaz, Schwartz showed the pink diamond to a group of people – Jho Low, Rosmah, and one of her friends. The group happily discussed the design of the necklace to hold the 22-carat pink diamond. On Sept 28, 2013, Schwartz met again with Jho Low and Rosmah in a hotel suite in the Mandarin Time Warner in New York in order to show them the layout of the necklace design.
The 22-carat pink diamond, described as “22.17-carat Natural Fancy Intense Pink VS2 clarity (GIA#2115637296) Cut-Cornered Square Modified Brilliant Cut diamond,” was invoiced on 3 July, 2013 for a jaw-dropping US$23,000,000. The second invoice, dated July 31, 2013, was for US$4,300,000 for the accompanying necklace. Hence, the total cost was US$27,300,000.
Schwartz was asked to invoice Blackrock Commodities (Global) Limited (“Blackrock”). On Sept 9, 2013, just days after Najib proudly told all and sundry that he had returned US$620 million to its original donor (Tanore Finance), US$58,849,050 was wired from the same Tanore Account to another account at Falcon Bank in Singapore held in the name of Midhurst Trading Limited (“Midhurst Trading Account”).
The following day (Sept 10, 2013), Midhurst transferred US$32,760,000 to an account at DBS Bank Ltd. in Singapore held by Blackrock (referred to as “Blackrock Account” by DOJ). On the same day, Blackrock made two separate wire transfers to a bank account at Bank of America in New York held by Lorraine Schwartz Inc. in payment for the 22-carat pink diamond necklace.
Investigations done by US-DOJ also revealed that “Blackrock Account” was used to do nothing but to pay for jewellery purchases for Jho Low and their associates, including Auntie Rosie. In fact, between April 2013 and September 2014, the account was used to purchase a total of approximately US$200 million (RM840 million) in jewellery, again, using funds traceable to the 2013 bonds and the 2014 Deutsche Bank loans.
Besides the 22-carat pink diamond necklace, Rosmah had also purchased 27 other jewelleries from the same “Jewish Queen of Oscar Bling”. The 27 pieces of jewelleries, all 18K – white gold, yellow gold, rose gold, black gold – of bangles or necklaces, were priced from US$40,172 to US$240,000 a pop and were purchased during dinner between Rosmah and Schwartz at the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles.
Known as a “PONZI” scheme, the details of how the pink diamond necklace was purchased with money stolen from 1MDB had already been exposed in 2017, when the U.S. Justice Department released its investigation papers – documents as thick as 251-page – that linked then-PM Najib Razak as the “MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1” and Rosmah as the “wife of MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1”.
Najib didn’t return the US$620 million to his self-proclaimed Saudi royal family because the money was unused (as he famously claims). He returned it because he needed to siphon it elsewhere, as instructed by Jho Low whenever Rosmah wanted to buy more “bling-bling”. The money was siphoned from the three bond sales for 1MDB (code-named Project Magnolia, Maximus and Catalyze).
Under “Project Maximus”, the second bonds issued by 1MDB in 2012, known as Aabar BVI phase, Najib received US$30 million. But the juiciest kickbacks came from the “Project Catalyze” (Tanore phase) in 2013 when the disgraced Malaysian leader received a further US$681 million misappropriated from 1MDB. Now, the jigsaw puzzle is almost solved.
The U.S. authorities (DOJ, SEC and FBI) have been very consistent in their investigation since then-U.S. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch announced that the Justice Department filed lawsuits to seize assets on July 20, 2016. But the same cannot be said about Najib and Rosmah, who have displayed inconsistency and contradiction in their half-baked fairy tales.
From insisting that the RM2.7 billion in his bank accounts was a donation from the Saudi royal family, to saying he was “assuming” the money was donations, and to blaming Jho Low for scamming him, Najib is as guilty as hell. Rosmah even cried that it was a UAE price (Sheikh Mansour Zayed) who had wanted to give a pink diamond necklace to her. Do they dare to sue the Government of the United States?
Every government on the planet Earth knows that Najib is guilty. Roger Ng had already been convicted and given 10 years in prison. In August 2024, the Swiss Federal Criminal Court convicted Patrick Mahony and Swiss-Saudi Tarek Obaid for embezzling more than US$1.8 billion. For Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah to free Najib will be a huge embarrassment to not only the Anwar government, but also the Malaysian Judiciary.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.
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