KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 30): The High Court on Wednesday ordered former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to enter his defence against all four abuse of power and 21 money-laundering charges for allegedly receiving gratifications worth RM2.27 billion in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd-Tanore (1MDB-Tanore) trial.

Trial judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah, who is now an appellate court judge, said that he found a prima facie case against Najib on all charges against the former finance minister.

“This is the decision on the four [abuse of power] charges, based on the maximum evaluation, as the court finds all ingredients of the offence are fulfilled. The court finds a prima facie case, and orders the accused to call his defence,” the judge said. 

"The accused stood at the very apex of the decision-making process in 1MDB (being the chairman of the board of governors), and it would be suicide (for those who believed him) to go against the accused."

In finding that Najib has to enter his defence for abuse of power, Sequerah noted that the monies gained by 1MDB from loans were used not for the government or the country’s benefit, but instead went to the accused.

“There were sums of money generated from 1MDB that found their way into the accused’s accounts and related to his own benefit. This showed that he had vested interests in 1MDB.

“1MDB had taken loans, which had not brought benefit to the government and the country. Following this, this court sees no merit in Najib's defence statement, which was recorded in the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) statement,” the judge said.

When an accused person is charged under the MACC Act, the person is required to tender his defence before the trial for the court to consider.

The four abuse of power charges come under Section 23 of the MACC Act.

Sequerah also noted that while the 1MDB scandal was being exposed in 2015, Najib had dismissed then attorney general Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail, who led the special task force on the investigations, removed MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamed, and the disbanded the task force.

“No police report was lodged by the accused against Jho Low (fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho).”

Najib had also replaced Gani with Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali as the AG, said the judge, adding that Apandi apparently then cleared Najib of the investigations, and they only resumed in 2018, after Najib (and Barisan Nasional and Umno) lost power in the 2018 general election.

Sequerah also noted the testimonies of former chief secretary to the government Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan and Najib’s former aide Datuk Amhari Effendi Nazaruddin, who said 1MDB was set up for BN and Umno’s benefit.

“The funds gained from 1MDB were used for political purposes,” Sequerah said, adding that the funds could not be obtained through positive action by Najib if not for his vested interests in 1MDB.

The judge also took into account that money trails from PetroSaudi International (PSI), Goldman Sachs bond issuance bonds, and Aabar Investments PJS Ltd gained by 1MDB had entered into Najib’s personal bank accounts to justify the court calling the former PM’s defence.

“Without the involvement of Najib as [the then] finance minister and PM, the joint venture with PSI and other deals would not have taken off,” Sequerah said.

Sequerah also took into account The Edge Media Group chairman Tan Sri Tong Kooi Ong’s evidence, when briefing Najib at his Jalan Langgak Duta home in 2015, where Tong had suggested action be taken on Jho Low, only for the politician to show the businessman to the door.

In taking into consideration the totality of the evidence, Sequerah dismissed the defence’s objections that the prosecution’s witnesses — like former 1MDB general counsel Jasmine Loo Ai Swan, Amhari, former 1MDB chief executive officer Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi, the company's former chief financial officer Azmi Tahir, former CEO Mohd Hazem Abdul Rahman, former board member Tan Sri Ismee Ismail, and former board chairman Tan Sri Mohd Bakke Salleh — had given hearsay evidence.

This was due to their interactions with Jho Low, as well as Najib’s former principal private secretary — the late Datuk Azlin Alias — former 1MDB chief investment officer Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, former 1MDB executive director of finance Terence Geh Choh Heng, and Jho Low’s associate Kee Kok Thiam, who cannot be called in to testify.

The judge noted the authorities’ efforts to locate Jho Low, Nik Faisal and Kee, and that there were provisions in the law for the testimony of the prosecution witnesses to be accepted even without calling them, as there were other forms of collaborative evidence.

Sequerah cited an instance when Loo saw Kee typing the purported Arab donation letters on instructions from Jho Low, at a London hotel in early 2015, to corroborate such evidence with regard to the contentious letters. 

Meanwhile, Sequerah also ordered Najib to enter his defence on all 21 money-laundering charges, saying that the former PM was ‘wilfully blind’ and not willing to inquire the source of the funds entering his AmBank accounts when he should have done so.

After reading his judgement for all the charges, the judge asked, through an interpreter, for Najib to state what he chooses to do.

The court interpreter told Najib that he was asked to enter his defence, and Najib replied from the accused dock that he would be testifying on oath from the witness stand in his defence.

After reading his judgement for almost two hours, Sequerah ordered Najib to testify in his defence on Dec 2, and the court has already fixed 97 days for the defence stage.

A prima facie case is established when the prosecution has presented credible evidence proving each element of the offence, which, if left unchallenged or unexplained, would justify a conviction.

The 1MDB-Tanore trial before Sequerah began in 2019, with 50 prosecution witnesses testifying after Najib was originally charged in 2018.

This is one of the five criminal cases that were levelled against Najib in 2018. He is already serving his prison sentence in the main SRC International Sdn Bhd criminal case since Aug 23, 2022, after the apex court dismissed his appeal and review bid.

In February, the Pardons Board reduced his initial 12-year jail sentence and a fine of RM210 million to six years and a RM50 million fine.

Najib's 1MDB audit-tampering trial, in which he faced a charge of abuse of power with former 1MDB president Arul Kanda Kandasamy, had ended with an acquittal at the High Court in 2022.

Last Thursday, Najib’s son and Pahang executive council member Datuk Mohamad Nizar Mohamad Najib made an apology on behalf of his father for letting 1MDB’s debacle to happen during his watch as the PM and finance minister.

Najib was represented by Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, Tania Scivetti, Muhammad Farhan Shafee, and Wan Mohammad Arfan Wan Othman, while the prosecution was represented by deputy public prosecutors Kamal Bahrin Omar, Ahmad Akram Gharib, Mustaffa P Kunyalam, and T Deepa Nair.

Umno Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh and party veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah were seen sitting in the public gallery of the court.

Najib's wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, sons Nizar and Datuk Mohd Nazifuddin, and daughter Datin Nooryana Najwa were also there.

Two bus loads of Najib supporters walked uphill from the Federal Territory Mosque to the court, and gathered outside the massive court complex as police monitored and controlled the crowd.

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No motive for witnesses to frame Najib as it would be tantamount to suicide given his powers then, says judge
1MDB-Tanore: Judge’s summary of key findings that led to decision to call the defence
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