KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 30): Prominent lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah claimed that his client Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s public apology last week for the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) debacle had been purposely misinterpreted by certain political quarters.

Speaking at a press conference at the Duta Court Complex here, Shafee said that politicians on “the other side” had misinterpreted Najib’s apology. He clarified that the former PM had only apologised for the 1MDB debacle happening during his tenure, and nothing else.

“Many of you — including a lot of politicians on the other side — some of you media have innocently misinterpreted the apology; but the politicians on the other side have purposely misinterpreted it,” Shafee said.

“Datuk Seri Najib apologised that the 1MDB debacle happened during his watch. He’s not saying that 'I did it' — he is not saying that. He has to apologise, because he was Number One,” the lawyer said.

Shafee explained that the apology was in accordance with the Westminster system of government in the UK, where the prime minister as the head of the government usually apologises when something in the government goes wrong.

He said that Najib did not admit to being criminally liable for the debacle.

“He’s not saying he’s guilty — criminally or negligently or recklessly,” Shafee said.

“He has to apologise because he [was] Number One. Under the Westminster system, if you are the head of the government and a bad thing happened under your watch, you apologise; among other things, you apologise, and that’s precisely what he did,” Shafee said.

The defence lawyer was then asked if Najib’s apology had anything to do with the (then anticipated) 1MDB-Tanore decision by Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah on Wednesday morning, when the judge ordered Najib to enter his defence against all four abuse of power and all 21 money-laundering charges for allegedly receiving gratifications worth RM2.27 billion in the 1MDB-Tanore trial.

“He did not apologise for those purposes in order to get a better result here, no. He thought it was already due for him to apologise, merely because it took place during his watch,” Shafee said.

Last week, Najib’s son, Datuk Mohamad Nizar Mohamad Najib, read a statement on behalf of his father, expressing that it pained the convicted ex-PM to know that the multibillion-dollar scandal occurred under his leadership.

In the statement, Najib apologised and conveyed his regret over the 1MDB scandal.

However, Najib maintained his line of defence in various court cases that he genuinely believed the funds he received were from Saudi Arabia and not misappropriated from the strategic state development fund.

On his thoughts on Sequerah’s decision on Wednesday morning, Shafee said that he and Najib both felt “extremely disappointed”.

“If you were to ask me, how do we feel — we feel extremely disappointed. My client feels extremely disappointed, because we put up arguments that we thought, [at the] minimum, would require a serious consideration [from the judge],” he said of the court decision.

“I am just so surprised. This is probably the only case that I have ever had, where at this stage, I didn’t even win on a single point — not a shred of cotton that I won in this particular ruling. I didn’t win the shirt, and not even a shred of cotton.

“But we are not giving up. We are going to fight this case, and we are more determined because of the decision,” Shafee said.

However, he said that he and his legal team respect the judgement from Sequerah, and said that they wouldn’t give up and would fight this case.

He added that he intends to call 11 witnesses in the defence stage, but added that it could be more as the trial goes on.

The trial will continue with Najib taking the stand on Dec 2.

Read also:
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Najib offers unreserved apology, regrets that 1MDB scandal happened under his watch