Najib Razak faces more than 100 years in jail
KUALA LUMPUR: Former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak will be tried on seven charges involving RM42 million of SRC International Sdn Bhd funds in the High Court here today.
Coincidentally, on this same day 10 years ago, Najib, who is Pekan Member of Parliament, was sworn in as the sixth prime minister.
The much-awaited high profile trial will be heard before Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali at 2 pm.
Najib, 66, is facing three counts of criminal breach of trust, one charge of abusing his position and three counts of money laundering over SRC International Sdn Bhd funds amounting to RM42 million.
Attorney-General Tommy Thomas will lead the prosecution team which consists of senior lawyers who were appointed as deputy public prosecutors (DPP), comprising Datuk Sulaiman Abdullah and Datuk V. Sithambaran.
They are assisted by DPP Datuk Mohamad Hanafiah Zakaria, Manoj Kurup, Budiman Lutfi Mohamed and Muhammad Izzat Fauzan.
Lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah is leading the defence team and he is assisted by lawyers Harvinderjit Singh, Muhammad Farhan Muhammad Shafee, Rahmat Hazlan and Syahirah Hanapiah.
The 1MDB fund was founded by Mr Najib in 2009 as a vehicle to create long-term economic development in Malaysia.
Less than a decade on, it was being investigated in at least six countries for alleged money laundering and graft.
Civil lawsuits filed by the US Department of Justice allege that nearly $US4.5 billion ($6.3 billion) was misappropriated from 1MDB during its lifespan.
The scandal helped to bring down Mr Najib’s government, with Malaysian voters ousting him amid a tide of public disgust in May last year — the first time his party had lost power since the country gained independence from Britain in 1957.
Malaysia’s now-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who led the country for more than two decades until he stood down in 2003, emerged from retirement at age 92 to challenge his onetime protege.
Since the shock election result, Malaysian authorities have pursued the case against Najib and his associates unrelentingly, investigating and laying charges against several people allegedly responsible for using 1MDB as a slush fund.
He established 1MDB soon after taking up Malaysia’s highest office in 2009, but by 2015 the fund was said to have incurred massive debts, and media reports had begun probing allegations of corruption.
Malaysian prosecutors allege that Mr Najib used his position as prime minister to obtain 2.3 billion ringgit ($793 million) for the fund between 2011 and 2014, and transferred at least $14 million of public money into his personal bank accounts.
The US Department of Justice alleges that $936 million, based on foreign exchange rates, of 1MDB funds went into Mr Najib’s bank account.
The 65-year-old was banned from leaving the country after losing the election, before he was arrested in July last year.
In the days before his arrest authorities seized cash, jewellery, designer handbags and watches totalling more than $370 million from his home — a haul that required 22 officials, three days and six counting machines.
Najib has consistently denied any wrongdoing, pleading not guilty to all charges and painting himself as the victim of a vindictive government.
He has claimed that the money in his accounts was donated by Saudi Arabia, and that he returned most of it.
Recently he has been trying to improve his image, refashioning himself as a voice of working class, especially those in the ethnic Malay majority by visiting local markets, eating at street food stalls and posing for selfies with locals.
In January, he rammed home his defiance in the face of legal woes by recording a Malay-language version of the 1970s hit Kiss and Say Goodbye, complete with a choir made up of young singer
Najib is charged with multiple counts of money laundering, abuse of power and criminal breach of trust.
In total, he faces 42 charges and, if found guilty on all counts, could be sentenced to more than 100 years in prison.
Seven of those charges will be the subject of today’s trial, and relate to the transfers totalling $14 million into Mr Najib’s personal bank account.
Prosecutors have handed nearly 3,000 pages of documents to the defence ahead of the trial, according to his legal team.
Najib is not expected to take the stand in his own defence in the trial, the first of several that are due to be held.
