KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 2 — The Swiss Federal Criminal Court did not mention former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s involvement when convicting two officials of PetroSaudi International for their company’s stealing of US$1.8 billion from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), Najib’s lawyer claimed today.
Najib’s lead defence lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah today raised the Swiss court’s August 28 conviction of Tarek Obaid and Patrick Mahony in the case, and claimed that the Swiss court had rejected the idea that fugitive financier Low Taek Jho was Najib’s representative.
“In the case of conviction of the two representing PetroSaudi International, the court found they misled the entire 1MDB.
“And the court apart from mentioning their defences, which the court rejected, as being the two representatives of Saudi and Jho Low was the representative of Datuk Seri Najib, the court rejected those defences and convicted them six and seven years respectively.
“In convicting them, the court never said anything about the involvement of Datuk Seri Najib,” Shafee claimed as he asked the High Court to take note of the Swiss conviction.
Shafee did not, however, produce news reports or any documents in court regarding this claim.
He said he mentioned this Swiss case as he wanted to introduce his additional point in Najib’s ongoing1MDB trial that there is allegedly “independent testimony and evidence that demolishes any idea that Datuk Seri Najib had authorised Jho Low as his representative in 1MDB”.
Among other things, Shafee today noted that Najib was not asked to testify in the Swiss case involving those two PetroSaudi officials.
“Yang Arif is aware nowadays, especially criminal law proceedings, can go global within seconds.
“Datuk Seri Najib, although has got restriction being a person who is not free, he could easily have been cross-examined or examined-in-chief by way of an audio facility from Switzerland, nobody has ever asked him about that,” he said.
In the 1MDB trial where Najib is being prosecuted over the misappropriation of over RM2.27 billion of 1MDB funds, the prosecution has said it will show that Low --- better known as Jho Low ---- was the mirror image and alter ego of Najib in 1MDB matters.
Najib’s 1MDB trial before judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah resumes this afternoon.
