Return of suspect will affect Najib’s 1MDB case, says Shafee
Published on: Monday, May 08, 2023
By: FMT
Shafee Abdullah (left) says the suspect will affect Najib Razak’s ongoing 1MDB case, but declines to elaborate.
PETALING JAYA: The return of a suspect involved in the authorities’ investigation of the 1MDB and SRC International Sdn Bhd cases is “likely” to affect Najib Razak’s ongoing 1MDB trial, claims defence lawyer Shafee Abdullah.
Shafee claimed the suspect brought back by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) last week had a “major role” in the 1MDB scandal.
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However, he declined to elaborate since the trial was ongoing, according to New Straits Times. “We will see what happens,” he said.
The unidentified suspect in the 1MDB and SRC cases had been missing since 2018. Upon his arrival at klia2, the man was handed a notice to appear at the MACC headquarters in Putrajaya last Thursday.
MACC officers then recorded his statement and his house was searched the same day. He was later arrested.
A source said it is believed MACC’s investigation found that the suspect had received money that had been misappropriated from 1MDB and SRC funds through the bank account of a company known as Wright Shaw Limited.
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Previously, MACC, in collaboration with Singapore’s Commercial Affairs Department (CAD), seized a Wright Shaw Limited bank account which had about US$5.2 million (RM23.1 million).
On Aug 23 last year, a five-member Federal Court panel affirmed Najib’s conviction and sentence in the SRC International corruption case.
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In a majority 4-1 ruling in March, the apex court dismissed Najib’s review application, meaning he will continue to serve the 12-year jail term imposed by the High Court at the end of his trial in July 2020.
He is also liable to a fine of RM210 million or an additional five years’ jail in default.
Najib is also facing 25 counts of money laundering and abuse of power over alleged 1MDB funds amounting to RM2.28 billion.
He is also jointly charged with former Treasury secretary-general Irwan Serigar Abdullah on six charges of misappropriating RM6.64 billion in public funds to make payments to International Petroleum Investment Co.
Apart from that, he is charged with three counts of money laundering amounting to RM27 million also involving SRC International funds. The trials before the High Court have yet to start.
Najib and former 1MDB president and CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy were acquitted without their defence called on March 3 for allegedly tampering with the 1MDB audit report.
However, the prosecution has filed an appeal in the Court of Appeal.
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