KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 22 — The prosecution is using a fictitious and evil theory to portray former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak as the “mirror-image” of the fugitive Low Taek Jho or vice versa in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) trial, his lawyer told the High Court today.
Najib’s lawyer Wan Azwan Aiman Wan Fakhruddin said Low’s criminal actions could not be just considered to be Najib’s wishes and such an allegation has to be proven.
He argued that “the criminal acts of Jho Low could never be equated or deemed to be the wishes or intents by Datuk Seri Najib”, and said that there must be clear direct evidence or indirect evidence to justify such an accusation.
Wan Azwan Aiman claimed that the prosecution has been resorting to using this unprecedented fictitious theory of “mirror image” to argue that Low’s actions are to be treated as if Najib had commissioned those actions.
He argued that the mirror image theory aims to make just one person culpable or legally responsible for the separate actions of two separate individuals.
But he criticised this mirror image theory used by the prosecution as a “malefic” or evil theory, and said this departs from the legal concepts of proving joint intention between individuals to commit a crime.
“Interestingly, Datuk Seri Najib has never been charged in this case having a common intention with Jho Low (a person at large) for these offences,” he said, claiming that the prosecution was acting maliciously by equating Low with Najib.
In the opening statement of the 1MDB trial, the prosecution had said it will prove that Low was Najib’s mirror image, and that it will also show facts that give rise to an irresistible inference that Low and Najib acted as one at all times.
The prosecution had also said it would prove that Najib through his words and conduct made it clear to 1MDB’s officers and 1MDB’s board of directors that Low was his alter ego.
Among other things, Wan Azwan Aiman also claimed that former 1MDB CEO Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi had always acted out of loyalty to Low, and not out of fear of Najib or compulsion from the latter.
Citing an October 10, 2009 1MDB meeting minutes which recorded Shahrol as referring to a request from “special advisors” to complete 1MDB’s predecessor’s TIA’s RM5 billion Islamic bond issuance, the lawyer argued that this meant that Shahrol had been taking orders from Low.
Wan Azman Aiman also claimed that Shahrol had been serving Low’s interests.
At one point, he quipped: “As Yang Arif can see from our submissions, Shahrol was placed in 1MDB by Jho Low to do one simple thing: to sign, steal and deliver. It’s a Stevie Wonder song, it’s a play of words on that.”
Today is the fourth day of Najib’s lawyers’ submissions or arguments in court on why he should be acquitted of his four power abuse charges in the 1MDB trial.
Najib’s 1MDB trial before judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah resumes on September 2.
