PUTRAJAYA (Oct 31): Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia Development Bhd-Tanore (1MDB-Tanore) trial, which ran for seven years, will have its verdict delivered on Boxing Day, Dec 26.
Trial judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah said this on Friday after the defence failed to close its submissions, which were slated to end on the same day.
"I know it will spill over to Nov 4. But I can state here and now that I will deliver my decision on Dec 26," the judge said addressing everyone.
The judge could not accommodate lead defence counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah's request for proceedings to resume on Friday afternoon, as he was occupied with his own affairs.
The final day of submissions is now set for next Tuesday, Nov 4, for the defence to wrap up its case. On Dec 26, Sequerah will decide whether the ex-PM is found guilty or can be free of the charges in his second 1MDB-linked case.
Friday was to be the final day of oral submissions as the parties summarised and outlined their most cogent arguments before the court in the trial, which spanned 302 days over seven years.
Najib was first charged on Sept 20, 2018, and his trial began on Aug 28, 2019. He faces 25 charges over about RM2.2 billion misappropriated from the state development firm.
He is already serving a six-year jail term for abusing his power over Retirement Fund Inc’s (KWAP) RM4 billion loan to SRC International Sdn Bhd and for criminal breach of trust and money laundering involving RM42 million of SRC’s funds. SRC is a former subsidiary of 1MDB.
Defence argues no direct instructions by Najib on major 1MDB wrongdoings
Earlier, Shafee stressed that there was no proof to show that his client directly gave instructions facilitating pivotal wrongdoings in the 1MDB saga.
Among the examples the senior lawyer cited, he said Najib never ordered the US$1 billion for the PetroSaudi International (PSI) joint venture to be split, and US$700 million ended up in Good Star Ltd’s account, which was later linked to fugitive Low Taek Jho (Jho Low).
Another example was that Najib had not ordered the establishment of the fake Aabar, Aabar Investments PJS Ltd, which was used to funnel funds in the third phase of the 1MDB saga in 2013.
'Mirror image', 'top down' approach: Shafee says no such doctrines in law
Shafee claimed that all the prosecution had was a phone call from Najib to former company chairman Tan Sri Mohd Bakke Salleh before a board meeting concerning the PSI joint venture in 2009, where the ex-PM had told Bakke to forget about past issues and to "firm up" a decision on the joint venture. Bakke testified that to his mind, this was a direction to expedite the joint venture, which was subsequently approved.
"This was not even a direct instruction," Shafee argued.
The senior lawyer also tackled the prosecution's case that Jho Low was Najib's mirror image and instructions from the fugitive were akin to originating from the ex-PM. Shafee argued that there was no such concept in law, locally or internationally.
Another such example was the "top-down" approach which witnesses have repeated to explain how the state-owned body was run. Shafdee claimed that there was no such established doctrine in law.
Over nine days of submissions, the defence maintained that the origins of the funds were donations promised to Najib by the late King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia in 2010 and subsequently rolled out from 2011 to 2014.
The prosecution, however, has highlighted that the funds were deposited into Najib's personal accounts subsequent to major 1MDB transactions.
The defence claimed that Najib had been very open about the donations, disclosing it to AmBank, the bank which housed his accounts, and also the central bank.
They also claimed that Najib had used monies from the US$680 million received for corporate social responsibilities and the unused RM620 million was returned back to the sender.
The prosecution, however, contended that the funds were returned just as another part of the standard layering and integration in money laundering. The prosecution also argued that the tainted monies cannot be "cleansed" by "good intent".
In October last year, the court ruled that the prosecution had established a prima facie case against the ex-PM and ordered for him to enter his defence.
The defence began its case on Dec 2 with Najib himself taking the stand in his defence. Twenty-five other witnesses also testified for the defence including Tengku Datuk Rahimah Sultan Mahmud, the sister of the Sultan of Terengganu, and former 1MDB chairman Tan Sri Che Lodin Wok Kamaruddin.