The 1MDB saga, which saw billions of government funds embezzled during former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak’s governance, came to an end with the High Court verdict on Friday that convicted him of all four power abuse and 21 money laundering charges.
Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah had sentenced Najib, following his conviction, to 15 years in jail and an RM11.38 billion fine for his power abuse charges, as well as five years’ jail for each of his money laundering charges.
If he cannot pay the fine, he will have to serve 10 additional years in jail in default.
However, the imprisonment terms were ordered to run concurrently, making it a total of 15 more years in prison for Najib, which he is to start serving after he exhausts his ongoing jail term for his SRC International case.
During the hearing, Sequerah, who spent nearly eight hours reading out his verdict, set out several key findings in his broad grounds of judgment, including his assessment of Najib’s claim that he was ignorant of the 1MDB embezzlement and his rejection of the so-called “Arab donations” defence.
Here are some key takeaways from Friday’s sentencing proceedings, which lasted approximately 15 hours.
1MDB revisited
In 2018, Najib pleaded not guilty to the 25 charges.
The four power abuse charges were framed under Section 23(1) of the MACC Act 2009, and the rest of the 21 charges were under Section 4(1)(a) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act.
Najib was accused under Section 23(1) of using his position to obtain gratification totalling RM2.3 billion of 1MDB funds between Feb 24, 2011 and Dec 19, 2014, at the AmIslamic Bank Berhad branch on Jalan Raja Chulan in Bukit Ceylon.
He was also accused of committing money laundering at the same bank between March 22, 2013 and Aug 30, 2013.
What were Najib's fines?
On Friday, after over seven years of trial, Najib was fined a total of RM11.38 billion for his four abuse of power convictions, reflecting the scale and seriousness of the offences involving 1MDB funds.
The fines imposed comprised RM303.15 million for the first charge, RM454.5 million for the second, RM10.41 billion for the third, and RM222.85 million for the fourth.
The court also ordered that, should he fail to pay the fines, Najib would face an additional 10 years’ imprisonment in default.
While there was no fine imposed for Najib’s money laundering conviction, the judge, however, ordered Najib to pay another RM2.08 billion in sum recoverable under Section 55(2) of the Act.
He can be punished with additional imprisonment of up to 30 months if he fails to pay.
Charges against Najib not duplicitous, prejudicial
Sequerah dismissed Najib’s claim that the charges against him were duplicitous and ambiguous. He said this was clear from how the former prime minister’s defence was conducted, particularly the cross-examinations, which showed he acknowledged the essential elements of all the charges.
“I do not find any merit in the argument. The short reason is that the perusal of each of the four charges will reveal that the time and place of commission of each offence is stated, the particulars of the statutory provision contravening are stated, and the capacity in which the accused acted, either as prime minister, finance minister and chairperson of the 1MDB board of advisers, respectively, is clearly stated.
“Moreover, when the charges were first read out to the accused at the sessions court, the accused had claimed that he understood all the charges and duly pleaded not guilty (and) this process was duly repeated on the case eventually transferred to the High Court.”
Sequerah concluded that Najib’s detailed cross-examination and repeated acknowledgement of the charges confirmed that he fully understood all the essential elements, leaving no ambiguity.
Arab donation letters unverified, forged
Sequerah found that the four Arab donation letters Najib relied on were forged, as the originals were never produced in court.
He said that despite having the resources at his disposal, Najib did not verify that the billions deposited into his accounts were genuine donations from the Saudi royal family.
Sequerah described Najib’s narrative as “implausible”, noting that no written acknowledgement was sent to the monarch’s family and witnesses present at his meetings with the Saudi monarch testified that no contributions were mentioned.
Sequerah also dismissed Najib’s claim that the funds were political donations to Umno, noting they were deposited directly into his personal accounts and not declared in cabinet meetings.
“(Therefore, the) Arab donation narrative is not meritorious (as) the Arab donation letters were forgeries, and the evidence pointed unmistakably to the fact that the money was, in fact, derived from 1MDB funds.
“This court has found the Arab donation defence to be incapable of belief and has not succeeded in rebutting the presumption of gratification under Section 23 of the MACC Act.”
Najib had previously argued that the alleged Arab donation did not breach ethics rules and only informed the cabinet that King Abdullah would support his administration, without disclosing the donation in detail.
Sequerah’s ruling on the dubious donation claim has raised renewed questions about how Umno’s current president, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, stated in 2015 that he had met with the Saudi family’s CEO and wealth trustee regarding the donation, which he said was intended to keep Umno in power.
In the same year, the MACC sent a team to the Middle East to meet the individual behind the donation and confirmed that the RM2.6 billion deposited into Najib’s accounts was a political donation.
Bond with Jho Low
During his corruption trial over RM42 million in SRC International funds, Najib maintained that he did not know the notoriously flamboyant businessperson Low Taek Jho (Jho Low), denying any involvement or communication with him.
He repeated this defence under oath during the 1MDB case, insisting he had no knowledge of Low acting on his behalf.
However, Sequerah found a clear nexus between Najib and the fugitive after reviewing witness testimonies, including evidence illustrating the nature of their relationship.
The judge also referenced the infamous yacht photo, which shows Najib with Low, his family - wife Rosmah Mansor and children Nooryana Najwa and Norashman - and Petrosaudi executives Prince Turki Abdullah and Tarek Obaid.
The image was widely circulated on social media after being published by Sarawak Report in 2019.
Sequerah noted Low’s pivotal role in securing the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) guarantee and emphasised that Najib had never lodged, or instructed his officers to lodge, any report with the authorities regarding 1MDB’s embezzled funds or against Low.
Najib no ‘country bumpkin’
In his ruling, Sequerah also dismissed Najib’s defence of being misled or in the dark over 1MDB funds, in saying that the former finance minister was no “country bumpkin” who could feign ignorance on what was taking place.
He also found that Najib had, at various times, taken actions to consolidate his interest in 1MDB, and that his defence of saying his signatures were forged on documents was clearly an afterthought.
Sequerah said that evidence also showed that Najib took deliberate steps to obstruct the 1MDB investigation.
In July 2015, he disbanded the special task force probing 1MDB and the deposits into his personal account, abruptly removed then attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail, who had been leading the task force, and dismissed then MACC chief commissioner Abu Kassim Mohamed just as the agency was intensifying its investigations.
“All of their work clearly shows the accused had more than a passing interest in the affairs of 1MDB and serves to highlight the extent of the steps of action that they took in order to protect and consolidate their interests,” Sequerah added. - Mkini
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