Najib: If I had wanted to cheat or steal, ‘insanely stupid’ for me to bring 1MDB money back to Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 5 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak today pointed out that it would have been “insanely stupid” for him to send 1Malaysia Development Berhad’s (1MDB) money out of Malaysia and bring it back into the country into his own personal local bank account, if he had really intended to cheat or steal from the government-owned company.

Testifying in his trial over 1MDB’s stolen funds of over RM2 billion, Najib today insisted that the billions in ringgit which entered his AmIslamic bank account were donations from the late Saudi ruler King Abdullah.

Lead defence lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah suggested that Najib would have been “terribly naive or a fool” if he was involved in the plot to defraud 1MDB, as the company’s funds were taken out of Malaysia and the money had travelled the world into various bank accounts only to be brought back to Najib’s AmIslamic bank account.

Najib replied that he had received money in his personal AmIslamic bank account which he said was opened specifically to receive King Abdullah’s donation, and that he had issued cheques to spend the donated funds.

“I did that because I wanted to spend the donation in a transparent manner. And if you noticed, I issued cheques, I didn’t withdraw cash. I issued cheques to the recipients because it will be on record that the monies issued were for the purposes as deemed in the donation letters.

“If I wanted to steal money, I would not have brought them back. I would have opened offshore accounts, and as you know, in the Panama Papers, I have not been named at all. And I do not have any offshore accounts.

“So I could not be so insanely stupid if I wanted to cheat or steal, why would I bring the money back to Malaysia and tell authorities about it, inform Bank Negara I have an account, that would be bordering on insanity,” he told Shafee.

Shafee then asked: “Or suicidal?”

Najib replied: “Yeah, whatever it is, if I wanted to steal. So my purpose was really to make sure that I would do justice to King Abdullah’s good intention when he wanted to help me, this is what I wanted to do, and it would be on record that I did what he wanted me to do.”

Shafee then asked: “If you are the criminal that you have been painted to be, according to the prosecution’s narrative, and being a finance minister, you know everything about finance, could this money somehow or other be brought back in cash.”

Najib replied: “Oh yes, it wouldn’t have been difficult to bring back in the form of cash. It might have been physically troublesome, but it could be done if I wanted to bring it back in the form of cash.”

Earlier today, Najib listed several points to support his claim that he trusted that money that came to his account was King Abdullah’s donation.

He included the fact that he had opened his AmIslamic account in Malaysia and that it was designated to receive King Abdullah’s and Saudi Arabia’s donations; his disclosure to AmBank’s then managing director Cheah Tek Kuang that the account’s opening was to receive Saudi donations; and that he had received four letters from a Saudi prince which promised the donations and that AmBank had used those supporting documents to process the money entering his accounts.

Najib also said he was transparent with the spending of the funds by issuing the cheques and using them for political and corporate social responsibility (CSR) purposes.

Apart from RM60 million and RM90 million in 2011 and 2012, Najib also said he had also later received US$681 million (RM2.08 billion) – which he believed was “another generous contribution from King Abdullah to me” and which he is now facing nine money laundering charges for in the 1MDB trial.

Najib said he had after the 2013 general elections returned US$620 million out of the US$681 million (which resulted in another five money laundering charges in the 1MDB trial), and had tried to get approval from Bank Negara Malaysia’s then governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz for the transfer and that he later proceeded with the transfer as he understood that approval was not required for sending the funds back to the same account.

In this trial, Najib faces 25 charges, including four counts of abusing his power in three roles – as prime minister, finance minister, and 1MDB’s board of advisers chairman – for personal financial benefit amounting to RM2.27 billion. He also faces 21 counts of money laundering involving RM2 billion in 1MDB funds.

Najib’s 1MDB trial before judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah resumes tomorrow morning.