PUTRAJAYA (Dec 26): Despite former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's insistence that the funds in focus in his 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) trials were political donations, the lack of official records made the claims dubious, the High Court said on Friday.
Reading his judgment in the 1MDB -Tanore trial, judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah found that this portion of Najib's defence was not tenable as Umno — the party the ex-PM had led — "was not some fly-by-night rookie political institute".
"The party, at the time was Malaysia's largest political party, having its roots established as far back as 1946.
"It is inconceivable that a person in the position of prime minister of the ruling political party at the time would not have any accounting records kept by an organisation who was supposedly to be the beneficiary of these sums of monies which were not of an insignificant amount," he said.
In this trial, Najib is accused of gratifying himself of RM2.27 billion of 1MDB funds, and faces four abuse of power and 21 money laundering charges.
Najib claimed that the monies were donations in 2010 from Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah and that he had been specifically told that he would be given financial assistance in the 2013 general election to ensure stability and his return to power.
The court had earlier broken for Friday prayers and resumed with the judge continuing to deliver his judgement at 3.15pm.
The Edge is covering the trial live here.
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