Dzulkifli: Two elements unproven to charge Najib under Section 403 Penal Code
KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here yesterday was told that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has prepared a proposal to conduct the prosecution under Section 403 of the Penal Code against Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in 2015.
Former MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Dzulkifli Ahmad, 52, said that the Commission and the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC), however, decided not to prosecute Najib at that time as the two key elements for the criminal act under the Section were not proven in the investigation papers.
Dzulkifli, who was the then director of criminal case management division at the AGC, said the MACC proposed for the prosecution against the former prime minister to be made under Section 403 of the Penal Code and for the alternative charge be made under Section 23 of the MACC Act 2009.
Section 403 of the Penal Code relates to dishonest misappropriation of property, while Section 23 of the MACC Act relates to abuse of power.
“I was instructed by the then Attorney-General (AG) Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali to look into the investigation papers prepared by the MACC on the two cases involving Datuk Seri Najib, namely the SRC International Sdn Bhd’s case and the 1MDB (1Malaysia Development Berhad) case.
“Tan Sri Apandi was of the opinion that the two main issues that needed further investigations by the MACC were the issue of knowledge, that is whether Datuk Seri Najib knew that the money deposited into his accounts were from SRC International Sdn Bhd and whether he was the one who instructed the money to be deposited into his accounts.”
Dzulkifli said this during the examination-in-chief by Najib’s lawyer, Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, on the 90th day of Najib’s SRC trial.
In reply to Shafee’s question on whether the MACC had carried out further investigations, Dzukifli said yes.
“However, the MACC did not provide the answers to the two main issues raised before and just informed that there was no statement saying that Najib instructed for the money to be deposited into his accounts.
“We then relook into the minutes submitted by the MACC and brought it to the AG’s attention and for him to decide,” he said.
Shafee: What did the AG do after getting the investigation papers back?
Dzulkifli: We discussed and the AG decided (to mark it) as ‘No Further Action’ (NFA).
Shafee: For which case?
Dzulkifli: For both the SRC International and the 1MDB cases. This is because the MACC had proposed for Section 403 of the Penal Code and under this section, the element of knowledge is vital.
Also testifying today was Najib’s former principal private secretary Tan Sri Shukry Mohd Salleh, 65.
Najib is making his defence on seven charges of misappropriating RM42 million in SRC International Sdn Bhd funds, comprising three counts of criminal breach of trust (CBT), three counts of money laundering and one count of abuse of power in relation to the SRC funds.
The trial before Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali continues today.
Bernama
