PUTRAJAYA (Jan 22): Datuk Seri Najib Razak denies seeking royalties from the Middle East to help stepson Riza Aziz over his alleged entanglement with 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) funds, the court heard on Wednesday.

Testifying in his defence during the ongoing 1MDB-Tanore trial, the former prime minister maintained that his purported conversation with then Emerati crown prince Sheikh Mohamed Zayed Al-Nahyan in 2016 was merely to document the financial assistance already given to Riza, a film producer.

"[The purported call] was to formalise the loan which [Riza] was already paying back. It is to further reinforce [what was communicated] when we had lunch. [The crown prince] very clearly said he wanted to invest in Riza's movies," Najib said.

The now imprisoned ex-PM said this on Wednesday while he was re-examined by his lead defence counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.

Shafee then asked if Riza's movies — which include the Oscar-winning, Martin Scorsese-directed Wolf of Wall Street — were successful, to which Najib answered in the affirmative.

This was part of purported audio recordings of telephone calls between Najib and other personalities linked to 1MDB. In this particular recording, Najib, among others, had allegedly sought Sheikh Mohamed's assistance to make a loan arrangement with Riza, in an effort to show that the funds were legitimate.

The call was said to have taken place after the US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) forfeiture suit against 1MDB, which also included Riza.

The prosecution had introduced nine recordings in a bid to show that Najib had a personal stake to cover up the 1MDB scandal.

The recordings were first disclosed by former Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Latheefa Koya at a press conference in 2020.

Najib and his lawyers have been questioning the authenticity of the recordings. The defence has also argued that the questionable legality of recording a sitting PM's personal conversations. 

The court has admitted the recordings as evidence in the trial.

On Wednesday, Najib also repeated the defence’s confusion with what he described as flawed charges.

The former PM argued that the charges were clumped together with many dates, and his specific interest in the companies was not stated. The defence had previously argued that the charges were void.

"I understand how it is written but I find it very perplexing and almost bizarre," Najib said.

However, in calling for Najib to enter his defence, presiding judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah ruled that the charges were in line with the law.

On Wednesday, the former PM also repeated that he "could have used the money" for luxury purchases, but chose to give back to society instead.

In this trial, Najib faces four abuse of power and 21 money-laundering charges.

The trial continues on Thursday.

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