KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 2 — Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was at the very “centre” of the the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) system and all officials – especially those in the Prime Minister’s Department – were unable to evade his presence, the prosecution told the High Court today.
The prosecution argued that he was also finance minister and had a personal interest in 1MDB, and had abused his power by laundering over RM2 billion of the sovereign investment firm’s funds for his own benefit, and demanded Najib’s defence against 25 charges be called.
The prosecution also claimed that Najib would still be committing crimes even if he had spent the millions of ringgit which entered his personal AmIslamic bank accounts for political purposes, arguing that this is because the money came from illegal activities and because such spending could still benefit the politician personally.
Deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib said that Najib had practised a “system” in handling 1MDB, where there are different groupings or categories of people all around him.
These included officials from the Finance Ministry, 1MDB, and 1MDB’s board of directors, the Prime Minister’s Office such as former special officer Datuk Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin, bankers, and external individuals from the Middle East such as Tarek Obaid and Mohamed Badawy Al-Husseiny.
“They were in a system, Yang Arif, but at the centre of all these people is Datuk Seri Najib – number one as prime minister, number two as finance minister, number three as chairman of 1MDB’s board of advisers. They cannot run away.
“These people around him cannot run away from him. For example, Amhari is a special officer, he takes orders from boss. Datuk Azlin, does he dare to go against boss? He won’t,” Akram said, referring to the late Datuk Azlin Alias who was then Najib’s principal private secretary.
Noting that the defence had heavily criticised former 1MDB CEO Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi as a witness in this trial, Akram suggested that the former acted the way he did in 1MDB affairs due to backing from Najib.
“Would he do all these acts, if he doesn’t have the backing of a very powerful person? Would he dare to do that without the backing of a heavyweight?” Akram said.
He noted that whatever 1MDB transactions and 1MDB decisions – which Shahrol had done without first getting the 1MDB board’s approval – had still gone through and that nobody was arrested or jailed for those events due to the alleged backing.
Even for Shahrol Azral, Akram said that anything that the then 1MDB CEO wanted to do would have to first be approved by the finance minister, suggesting that 1MDB was runned “at the behest and needs of the prime minister as the person interested in 1MDB”.
“Same with the others, Yang Arif, they are all connected to one person, and one person alone – that is the accused person,” he said.
Akram said the prosecution has proved that Najib did use his position to obtain gratification and that he had himself admitted he needed money for his political career.
Akram also read out part of a past High Court decision in another case involving Najib – the trial involving SRC International Sdn Bhd’s RM42 million funds which the former prime minister is currently imprisoned for – as a legal precedent to argue that there is no difference between personal gain and political spending.
In the SRC case, the then High Court judge Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali said it is a misconception to argue that Najib had spent funds for corporate social responsibility purposes.
“As has been stated, whilst some could be generously construed as charitable and intended to assist the social and economic wellbeing of the less fortunate of the society, they at the same time promoted the personal interest and political standing of the accused,” Mohd Nazlan said.
Officials believed Jho Low’s, PM’s aide’s 1MDB instructions were from Najib
Having at the start of the trial said that Malaysian fugitive Low Taek Jho is the “mirror image” and “alter ego” of Najib, the prosecution today argued that officials dealing with 1MDB matters believed that instructions conveyed by Low was from the prime minister.
Akram said Low is not a fictitious character and is a real person who has been identified by multiple prosecution witnesses in the 1MDB trial.
“This guy named Jho Low is everywhere in this case, from the beginning until the end, he is everywhere, he is involved in a lot of things and transaction.”
Akram listed court testimony from witnesses including how Low was seen coming in and out of then defence minister Najib’s office even before the latter became finance minister; that Low had been seen at Najib’s house previously; Low having on September 26, 2009 passed his mobile phone to then 1MDB chairman Tan Sri Mohd Bakke Salleh before a 1MDB board meeting started and had told Bakke that Najib was on the line.
“Jho Low was there, Yang Arif, in some of the holidays of Datuk Seri Najib and his family. He was there, he was in the picture, of Datuk Seri Najib taking picture with Tarek Obaid and Prince Turki on one of the ships. He was there together with Datin Seri Rosmah and family,” he said.
He added that Low was also involved in preparing talking points and action plans for 1MDB affairs and that Low was present when then 1MDB general counsel Jasmine Loo wanted to hand over resolutions for Najib to sign.
Based on previous court testimony by witnesses, Low was said to have been present at Najib and his family’s holidays on yachts in southern France in 2009, in the waters of Greece and Italy in 2010, and in southern France in 2013.
Noting that Najib had previously admitted knowing Low and citing Low’s presence throughout the entire 1MDB saga, Akram suggested that the prosecution witnesses in the 1MDB trial could not be faulted for thinking that Low was conveying orders from Najib.
“These witnesses have testified that they did what they did, because they believed they were actually acting on the behest of the prime minister or the accused person.
“Even though they received the instructions and they have commands from other people such as Datuk Azlin and Jho Low, they believed that whatever instructions that came is genuinely from the prime minister himself,” he argued.
Akram also said Azlin as Najib’s principal private secretary has the role of conveying instructions from the prime minister, saying: “Does he dare, will he dare to defy or give other instructions other than from the boss? We submit he will not, he can never, because he is in service.
“If he gets caught giving instructions outside of what the boss wants, he will be in trouble. So these witnesses who came to court for the prosecution, they received instructions from these two people, mainly Jho Low and Datuk Azlin, can we blame them?” he said when countering Najib’s legal team’s attempt to challenge the credibility of prosecution witnesses.
Akram said it was not just one prosecution witness but multiple witnesses who told the court that they “believed genuinely they were acting for the benefit of the prime minister and the country”.
Personal interest
Akram argued that the way Najib acted showed that he had “personal interest” in 1MDB, listing various events including how Najib had obtained purported letters from Saudi Arabia which promised him donations; him showing the door to financial publication The Edge’s owner Tan Sri Tong Kooi Ong when the latter tried to inform him about suspicions regarding Low; and the disbanding of the 1MDB task force and replacement of the attorney general and the MACC chief during Najib’s tenure as prime minister.
Najib’s 1MDB trial before judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah resumes tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow, Najib’s legal team expected to present their replies to the prosecution’s arguments and to urge the judge to acquit their client of all 25 charges.
The trial is now at the stage of submissions at the end of the prosecution’s case, which means the High Court will next decide on whether the prosecution has proven a prima facie case or a case that will require Najib to defend himself and call in defence witnesses.
