FORMER premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak has been ordered to enter his defence over four abuse of power charges and 21 money laundering counts involving 1MDB funds.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled on Wednesday (Oct 30) that the prosecution succeeded in establishing a prima facie case against the former finance minister.
“After a maximum evaluation of the evidence, I find that the prosecution has proven the ingredients of the charges,” Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah was quoted as saying.
Najib, who is also the former Pekan MP, is standing trial on four counts of abuse of power and 21 money laundering charges involving RM2.28 billion in 1MDB funds deposited into his AmBank accounts between Feb 2011 and Dec 2014.
A total of 50 witnesses had testified during the prosecution’s case, which went on for 253 hearing days between Aug 28, 2019 and May 30 this year.
Earlier during the nearly two-hour proceedings that began around 9.23am, Sequerah ruled that Najib had to answer the charges due to the strength of the various witness testimonies.
He ruled that the prosecution witnesses’ oral evidence showed proximity between the accused and fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) in the affairs of 1MDB.
The judge said the witnesses – among them former 1MDB CEO Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi, the fund’s former general counsel Jasmine Loo, and Najib’s former special officer Datuk Ahmari Efendi Nazaruddin – showed they had interacted with Low.
“I find the testimonies on the role of the accused are consistent and not coincidental on the involvement of the accused with Jho Low,” he stated.
“(There is) No motive for these witnesses to frame the accused who was prime minister and finance minister.
“The accused stood at the apex of decision-making process. It would be suicide for these witnesses to frame him given his position at the time.”
Sequerah ordered for the defence stage of the trial to begin on Dec 2. – Oct 30, 2024
Main image: Bernama
