KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 1 — Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was transparent about his AmIslamic bank account which received RM2 billion — now alleged to be 1Malaysia Development Berhad’s (1MDB) funds — and had believed that Saudi Arabia had donated the money to him, his lawyer argued in court today.
During Najib’s trial over 1MDB’s misappropriated RM2.2 billion funds, Najib’s lawyer Tania Scivetti claimed that her client had no reason to believe that the RM2 billion in his personal bank account was from illegal activities.
“He was very transparent as to why he wanted to open up the AmBank account. He opened the account in Malaysia, he did not open the account overseas under a company’s name or a proxy.
“He opened the account in Malaysia under his name, and disclosed to AmBank’s CEO Mr Cheah and explained to him the purpose of opening his account was to receive a donation from King Abdullah,” she told the High Court.
Scivetti was arguing to the High Court on why Najib should be acquitted of all 21 money laundering charges in the 1MDB trial.
Scivetti claimed that Najib’s receiving of money into his AmBank accounts in Malaysia showed that he “did not have any motive to conceal the funds”, and that he had “nothing to hide”.
She argued that this matched Najib’s belief that the money he was receiving were Saudi donations, as he had met with the late Saudi ruler King Abdullah in 2010 where the latter promised to provide support.
While noting that Najib did not directly receive the money from King Abdullah’s account, she said Najib had received over US$79 million (over RM243 million) allegedly from Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Finance and over US$99 million (over RM311 million) allegedly from King Abdullah’s grandson Prince Faisal.
She claimed that the prosecution has not proven that these funds that flowed to Najib’s AmBank account with the account number ending 9694 are linked to 1MDB, also arguing that the former prime minister believed these were legitimate donations.
“Now, further considering the substantial funds received from reputable sources like the Ministry of Finance in Riyadh and Prince Faisal, it is evident that Datuk Seri Najib had no reasons to suspect funds in his 9694 account were the proceeds of any unlawful activity.
“It is inconceivable that Datuk Seri Najib will ever entertain any suspicion that monies coming from these distinguished entities in Saudi Arabia could even be illicit,” she said.
She argued that Najib’s open receiving of money into his accounts and his purported use of these funds for political and corporate social responsibility purposes showed that he did not have any intent to hide any unlawful activity.
While Najib’s AmIslamic accounts were given the codenames of AmPrivate Banking-MR for the 9694 account and AmPrivate Banking-1MY for the account number ending 1880, Scivetti said AmBank was the one which had given these designated names and claimed that Najib did not ask for such special treatment.
She said Najib had opened the bank accounts under his name in his national identity card, and that he did not hide his ownership of these bank accounts.
As for the US$681 million or RM2.081 billion sent from Tanore Finance Corp to Najib’s account, Najib’s legal team said he believed that this company belonged to King Abdullah or the Saudi government as mentioned in a purported donation letter and that he had believed this to be part of the purported promises of donations from Saudi Arabia.
Scivetti argued that Najib had shown transparency when he returned US$620 million of the US$681 million to Tanore’s account, where he asked permission from Bank Negara Malaysia for the transaction and had explained to the central bank that he was returning the unused portion of the gift or donation.
“If he had any suspicion that these monies were unlawful proceeds, he would certainly not be bringing attention to those funds to the governor of Bank Negara,” she argued.
She also argued against the idea that Najib would return the alleged gratification of US$2 billion if he had abused his power for his gain.
“It defies logic for a corrupt official who supposedly has set up an elaborate and risky scheme with many moving parts to suddenly then return and reconvey the purported ‘gratification’ back to the same source,” she argued.
Ultimately, she urged the High Court to acquit Najib of all 21 money laundering charges in this trial.
Najib’s 1MDB trial before trial judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah resumes tomorrow, with the prosecution expected to begin presenting its arguments on why Najib should not be acquitted and why he should be ordered to enter his defence on all 25 charges in this case.
