“The Arab donation defence was incapable of belief. The accused is estopped from bringing it up again, as this was raised before a superior court where the decision was upheld by the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court. This is an unbelievable tale and a tale that surpassed even those from the Arabian Nights and a concoction bereft of any credibility.”
- Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah
Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah’s observation is more than dry legal reasoning. It is a dismissal delivered with stylistic force, stripping the “Arab donation defence” of any iota of plausibility.
The legal mechanism is straightforward - estoppel. The accused is barred from re-litigating a defence already rejected at the highest levels - the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court. Finality in law is established.
But the judge’s power was shown in his scorn. By invoking “Arabian Nights” - a treasure trove of fantastical tales - he categorises the defence not merely as weak, but as fiction.
Words like “concoction” and “bereft of any credibility” suggest fabrication, not fact. The ruling layers honest condemnation above legal principle: to re-raise such a defence is an affront not only to procedure, but to reason itself.
Last Saturday, Malaysiakini recalled the words of Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Azalina Othman Said, who both insisted the RM2.6 billion was a donation. They were not mere misstatements.
They were lies, damned lies - crafted to protect one man and his wife, to lull the public into believing that the scandal was nothing more than a malicious attempt to unseat the incumbent.
All the farce
In 2015, Zahid claimed he had met the Arab family’s trustee and seen the original transfer documents. Azalina told Parliament that MACC had confirmed the money came from the Saudi royal family. Azam Baki, then MACC investigations director, echoed the claim, calling it a political donation.
The MACC exonerated Najib, stating that the monies in his personal bank accounts came from donations.
“Investigations have found the RM2.6 billion, which was allegedly deposited into the prime minister’s accounts, is the contribution of donors and not from 1MDB funds,” the commission had said in a statement.
Yet testimony later revealed the farce. MACC officers flew to Saudi Arabia, but one witness admitted he was not even present when the supposed “prince’s” statement was recorded. The defence was stitched together with letters, actors, and rumours - a theatre of deception masquerading as evidence.
As I noted earlier this year, this exchange during the trial reflected the competency, capability, and aptitude of MACC, whose senior officer provided the answers.
Deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib: From your point of view, from the beginning of the trip to Saudi and to completion, it was already planned, you only went there to complete the “cerita” (narrative), and did not ask any (questions from the alleged Arab donor), go there to eat and then go back (to Malaysia)?
MACC’s senior assistant commissioner Nasharudin Amir: Yes, correct.
DPP: Do you agree if I suggest that this four-and-a-half-page statement (of al-Koman) was already prepared beforehand (before the delegation’s arrival in Riyadh), and your job and Hafaz (Nazar, a MACC recording officer) were only to cut and paste the MACC statement.
Nasharudin: Yes.
On Friday, after Najib’s conviction, Azam congratulated the investigation and prosecution teams. But his chest-thumping was ceremonial at best – a hollow victory lap.
For an institution that once lent credence to the Arabian fantasy, Azam’s belated congratulatory note and the celebration cannot erase its complicity in sustaining the lies.
Others were complicit, too
There were others, including the then-attorney-general Apandi Ali, who in January 2016 explained that the monies found in Najib’s bank accounts were donations from foreign royalty.
But three weeks later, the investigations were closed, and Apandi said: “Based on the facts and evidence as a whole, I, as the public prosecutor, am satisfied that no criminal offence has been committed by the prime minister in relation to the three investigation papers.”
Apandi also noted that Najib had returned RM2.03 billion to the Saudi royal family, two months after the May general election.
Quick on the draw was then housing, local government and urban well-being minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan, who showered praises on Apandi.
“I congratulate the AG for his wisdom and apt interpretation of facts. Never bowed to pressure. Always sticking to principle and the law,” Rahman tweeted.
But after judgment day, Apandi had only this to say: “Sometimes one has to pay for a lapse of intelligence.”
Deliberate deception
The RM2.6 billion saga was not a donation, not a misunderstanding, not even a misstep. It was a deliberate deception - a fairy tale spun into policy, defended by ministers, sanctified by institutions, and (mis)sold to the rakyat as truth.
Many other players, including civil servants, journalists, and their editors, jumped on the “Najib did no wrong” bandwagon.
Sequerah’s words have cut through all the fog - this was a concoction bereft of credibility.
When the guardians of law, governance, and accountability become storytellers of fantasy, the price is not just a lapse of intelligence; it is a collapse of integrity.
The “Arabian Nights” entertained the gullible few, but the majority, like-minded Malaysians, feel betrayed by those who were then in office and their associates, many of whom continue to walk the corridors of power in Putrajaya. - Mkini
R NADESWARAN has been following the 1MDB saga for more than 10 years, commenting on the many revelations made by the US Justice Department, The Wall Street Journal, Sarawak Report, and The Edge. Comments: citizen.nades22@gmail.com
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.
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