Najib kept part of 'Arab donation' to prevent govt’s collapse, says witness
Published on: Thursday, May 30, 2024
By: FMT
Former prime minister Najib Razak is standing trial on four charges of abuse of power and 21 of money laundering involving RM2.28 billion in 1MDB funds. (Bernama pic)
PETALING JAYA: Najib Razak kept a portion of the purported “Arab donation” he received as a contingency to prevent his Barisan Nasional government from collapsing through the defection of MPs, the former prime minister’s 1MDB trial heard today.
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigating officer Nur Aida Arifin told the High Court here Najib revealed this to an officer who took his statement in late 2018.
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The prosecution witness said this when re-examined by deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib, who asked if money kept in Najib’s account had been used for political purposes.
Aida then read a portion of Najib’s statement to MACC.
Najib said he did not utilise all the funds for the 2013 general election but kept some as a contingency in the event of a repeat of the Sept 16, 2008 incident.
“(On Sept 16, 2008), there were attempts by the opposition then to bring down the BN government (then led by Abdullah Ahmad Badawi) by asking MPs to defect,” he said in the statement.
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He said he had to prepare for the eventuality although he opposed such a practice.
Najib, who was appointed the prime minister on April 3, 2009, said there were similar attempts to bring down his government after the 2013 general election.
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Since 2008, the BN-led government had become fragile as it no longer had the two-thirds majority it enjoyed for over 50 years when governing the country.
There was speculation that Abdullah’s administration would collapse as the opposition was said to be courting some BN MPs in a bid to form a new government.
Najib, in the statement, said he returned the balance of the donation which was not used during GE13.
Previously, prosecution witness and police officer Foo Wei Min said Najib had received US$681 million (RM2.081 billion) but returned US$620 million (RM2.034 billion) in August 2013.
Foo said the money trail revealed that the funds originated from 1MDB.
Another prosecution witness, former chief secretary to the government Sidek Hassan, also testified that according to his understanding, 1MDB was set up as a political fund for BN.
Aida said the attorney-general and MACC chief commissioner were replaced during Najib’s tenure as the prime minister. She said the prime minister had a role in who was to be appointed to those offices.
She agreed with Akram that the prime minister advised the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on such appointments as provided for under Article 145 of the Federal Constitution and Section 5 of the MACC Act.
In July 2015, a special task force comprising officers from the Attorney-General’s Chambers, MACC, Bukit Aman and Bank Negara Malaysia began a probe into 1MDB as reports emerged that large amounts of money had been remitted from overseas into Najib’s private accounts.
Then attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail was replaced by Apandi Ali a few weeks later, and senior deputy public prosecutor Dzulkifli Ahmad was appointed as MACC chief commissioner in July 2016, replacing Abu Kassim Mohamed.
Apandi eventually announced that he had thoroughly studied the papers submitted to him by MACC and ordered the cases closed.
In its opening statement, the prosecution claimed that Najib had been in cahoots with fugitive financier Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, to steal millions of ringgit from 1MDB. It also described Low as Najib’s mirror image.
The prosecution also claimed that Najib took active steps to evade justice and interfered with the course of the 1MDB investigation.
Najib is standing trial on four charges of abuse of power and 21 of money laundering involving RM2.28 billion in 1MDB funds allegedly deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.
The trial before Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues.
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