A Malaysian judge yesterday ordered former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak to enter a defense at his first corruption trial linked to the multibillion-dollar looting at the 1MDB state investment fund that helped spur his shocking election ouster last year.
Defense lawyers said Najib was shocked that he was not acquitted. He is to be the first defense witness to take the stand when the trial resumes on Dec. 3.
High Court Judge Mohamad Nazlan Mohamad Ghazali said the prosecution had established its case on charges of abuse of power, breach of trust and money laundering.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The seven charges relate to 42 million ringgit (US$10.1 million) that allegedly went into Najib’s bank accounts from SRC International, a former unit of the 1MDB fund.
The judge said it was clear that Najib, who was also finance minister at the time, had “wielded overarching authority and power” in SRC and taken actions for “personal and private interest.” He said prosecution had established an “ingredient of dishonesty” in the fund misappropriation.
Najib’s top lawyer, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, said the judge had chosen a “different interpretation of facts and laws” on the defense arguments. He maintained Najib was a victim of a conspiracy led by fugitive Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, identified by US investigators as the mastermind in the pilfering of more than US$4.5 billion from the fund.
“You will hear the true story from the accused. He has to tell his story, his version of what happened in SRC,” Shafee said at a news conference. “This is a person who trusted the people around him and these people let him down.”
Najib, 66, denies any wrongdoing and accuses Malaysia’s new government of seeking political vengeance.
The patrician former leader, whose father and uncles were the country’s second and third prime ministers respectively, could face years in prison if convicted.
Shafee said whatever verdict is reached, both sides are to appeal until the case reaches the top court. It could last many years, “well beyond the next election,” due in 2023, he said.
Najib is also charged in four other cases over 1MDB corruption that led to investigations in the US and several countries.
His wife, several officials from his government and the US bank Goldman Sachs also face charges related to the scandal.
Yesterday’s ruling was seen as a key test for the legal system and the credibility of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s government, which won a historic victory in the May 2018 election on an anti-corruption platform.
The polls led to Malaysia’s first change of government since its independence from Britain in 1957.
In an immediate reaction from the government, Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman tweeted: “Praise God. May justice be on the side of the people.”
Mahathir, 94, was premier for 22 years until his retirement in 2003, but made a political comeback amid anger over the 1MDB scandal. His government soon reopened 1MDB investigations that had been suppressed under Najib.
US investigators say that money stolen from 1MDB was laundered through layers of bank accounts in the US and other countries to finance Hollywood films and buy hotels, a luxury yacht, art works, jewelry and other extravagances. More than US$700 million from the fund allegedly landed in Najib’s bank account.
In all, Najib faces 42 charges of criminal breach of trust, graft, abuse of power and money laundering in the five criminal cases.
Shafee said yesterday’s ruling is not likely to affect Najib’s second ongoing trial, in which he faces 25 counts of graft for allegedly receiving and using more than US$731 million from 1MDB between 2011 and 2014.
He said a US settlement deal last month with financier Low Taek Jho (better known as Jho Low) would allow the US Department of Justice to recover almost US$1 billion stolen from 1MDB, which would in turn bolster Najib’s case that he was misled by Low. Low, who faces charges in Malaysia and the US, is still in hiding.
“You must draw the line between naive, too trusting or even negligence as opposed to having the intention to commit crime,” he said of Najib.
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