KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 1): If there were any illegalities concerning the funds that flowed into former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's accounts, it was feasible for him to expect the relevant authorities to alert him or take necessary action. However, this did not transpire, the High Court heard on Tuesday.
The defence in the ongoing 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB)-Tanore trial contended that it was "reasonable" for Najib, being a politically exposed person, to depend on both AmBank, which housed his accounts, and Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) to raise any suspicious transactions to him. However, no red flags were raised.
The funds here are in reference to the US$620 million (RM2.27 billion), the subject matter of Najib's four abuse of power charges. He also faces 21 money laundering charges.
Defence counsel Tania Scivetti argued that Najib had reason to believe that the funds were donations from the Middle East — his long-standing defence to the exorbitant sums of monies in his accounts.
"It must be emphasised that [the monies] were not a small amount that would go unnoticed and undetected. The sheer amount would be subject to scrutiny, not just by the compliance department in AmBank, but also the sender's compliance department — in this case, Tanore [Finance Corp].
"Moreover, the substantial sum of RM2 billion was also notified by BNM, which would freeze any account if there were any suspicion or unlawful activities. However, no red flags were raised in this instance.
"This clearly shows that [Najib] had legitimate expectations that the money he received from Tanore was a genuine donation from Saudi Arabia, and not associated with any unlawful activity," she said.
Tanore is an outfit linked to fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho (Jho Low).
Scivetti added that Najib had alerted then BNM governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz that he was expecting donations from the Middle East.
"If [the monies were] unlawful profits, he would certainly not be bringing it up to Zeti," Scivetti said, adding that there had been no wilful blindness on Najib's part, and that the former finance minister had been fully transparent.
A similar defence was raised in the SRC International Sdn Bhd criminal trial, for which Najib was convicted and is currently incarcerated. The High Court, appellate court, and apex court had all not accepted that defence.
SRC was formerly a subsidiary of 1MDB.
In this trial, the defence has completed the majority of its submissions at the end of the prosecution stage. Lead defence counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah will then briefly sum up their case.
The prosecution is finally expected to present its arguments to the court on Wednesday.
Proceedings will continue on Wednesday, and trial judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah has instructed parties to complete their submissions by Friday.
Repeating that he had read and re-read all the submissions, Sequerah asked if the deadline would be adhered to. The parties answered in the affirmative.
Following submissions, Sequerah will then set a date to deliver his decision on whether the ex-PM has to enter his defence or can walk free.