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| The conspirators |
Just days before SRC appeal decision, Najib asks court to take new evidence from MACC chief, investigator
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 2 — Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has asked the Court of Appeal to allow new evidence to be included in his appeal against his conviction, fine and jail sentence for misappropriating RM42 million from former 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) subsidiary SRC International Sdn Bhd.
Najib’s application was filed yesterday, or just seven days before the Court of Appeal was scheduled to decide his appeal on December 8.
Based on court documents sighted by Malay Mail, Najib is applying for the Court of Appeal to allow and to direct for viva voce evidence to be taken from Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Datuk Seri Azam Baki, or essentially for the anti-corruption chief to be asked to give oral evidence in relation to the SRC case.
Najib is also applying for further oral evidence to be taken from MACC investigating officer Rosli Hussein in the SRC case.
Azam has not testified in the SRC case, while Rosli previously testified as a witness in court in the SRC case.
In the same application, Najib asked the Court of Appeal to allow the addition to his SRC appeal of viva voce or oral evidence from “any other witness” or “any other additional or further evidence” which may arise based on his affidavit or as the court sees fit and appropriate.
Najib also asked for the contents of his affidavit in support and the attached supporting exhibits to be included as additional and further evidence in the SRC appeal.
He also asked the court to direct additional evidence to be included in the SRC appeal’s records of appeal and for the SRC appeal to be “set for continued hearing”.
In other words, he asked the Court of Appeal to continue hearing the SRC appeal. The hearing, which went on for 15 days, ended last May 18.
Najib claims acted without delay, wants application heard before SRC decision
In an affidavit filed in support of his application, Najib said the viva voce evidence should be taken from the two MACC officers and to be included in his appeal in the SRC case, adding that he believed that their additional evidence would be necessary in the interest of justice.
In his affidavit, Najib also commented on the timing of his application to ask for new evidence to be added to the SRC appeal, claiming that he had filed it without delay as soon as he could.
“I humbly state that this application has been made by me without delay as soon as I was made aware of and was able to accumulate all the necessary information and documents which I shall outline herein,” he said.
Najib claimed that such information was not available or could not be obtained during his SRC trial at the High Court and when the Court of Appeal previously heard the appeal.
He further claimed that he was unable to “uncover” such evidence and accused the prosecution, the MACC and Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) of “actively concealing them”.
While acknowledging that a date has already been fixed for the Court of Appeal’s decision in his SRC appeal, Najib claimed that the additional evidence that he wants to be included will have a material effect on his case.
He said that all crucial material should be presented to the court for a just decision to be achieved.
He argued that such evidence is necessary to be added on in the interest of justice and as his life and liberty is at stake.
Among other things, Najib wants the Court of Appeal to consider including further evidence before deciding on his SRC appeal, with such alleged further evidence relating to former BNM governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz as well as her alleged links to Low Taek Jho via her family’s alleged receipt of funds from the latter and also regarding the recovery of US$864,813.27 in 1MDB funds from SRC former CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil.
Najib insisted that he had believed the RM42 million of SRC funds banked into his bank accounts in 2014 and 2015 were donations from the Arab royalty.
He said he believed that the High Court would have arrived at a different decision in his favour if such evidence had been produced during the trial and would allegedly also raise reasonable doubt in the prosecution’s case at both the High Court and Court of Appeal level.
Najib also asked for the Court of Appeal to decide on this application before delivering its decision on his appeal against the SRC conviction.
“I profusely apologise to this honourable court for any inconvenience occasioned, and I seek for this application to be heard at the earliest date possible, in any case prior to this court rendering any judgment, to prevent any delay towards the judicial process in the appeals,” he said in the affidavit.
Excluding today, there would be just three week days left before the December 8 decision by the Court of Appeal.
Malay Mail has confirmed with the prosecution team that the application was filed by Najib yesterday.
The judiciary had on November 23 announced that the Court of Appeal would deliver its decision on Najib’s SRC appeal on December 8.
The Court of Appeal on November 24 was also reported to have rejected Najib’s November 23 application to postpone the SRC appeal decision date, and instructed for all parties to be present at the Court of Appeal in Putrajaya on the scheduled date of December 8.
Najib’s lawyer had at that time applied for the December 8 decision date to be rescheduled, saying that his client would be in Singapore until December 5 and would be required to undergo a seven-day quarantine until December 12 and would only be able to attend court from December 13 onwards.
Previously, Najib was allowed to have his passport released temporarily from October 25 to December 6, with his lawyers informing the court that this was to enable his travel plan then of being in Singapore on November 21 until December 5.
It is unclear if Najib is currently in Singapore or Malaysia, or if he has made changes to his travel schedule that was informed to the court previously.
Najib had on November 27 gave a press conference outside the Dang Wangi district police station after lodging a police report there over the alleged suppression of evidence that could be used for his SRC and 1MDB trials, while his son Nor Ashman Razak had on November 29 posted on Instagram Stories with the words “Off to Singapore!!” as he tagged Najib.
On November 29, Najib’s daughter Nooryana Najwa — who is living in Singapore — posted a photo on Facebook showing her newborn child being held by Najib with his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor by his side.
On July 28, 2020, the High Court convicted Najib over all the seven charges — covering the offences of criminal breach of trust, power abuse, money laundering — in relation to SRC International’s RM42 million.The High Court sentenced Najib to a 12-year prison term and a fine of RM210 million with an additional five years if the fine is not paid for the power abuse charge, as well as jail terms of 10 years each for each of the six other charges.
But with the High Court ruling that the prison terms are to be served concurrently, this would mean that Najib would only have to serve a maximum of 12 years. Najib has appealed the entire High Court decision, including the conviction and sentencing.
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At 3 PM today, Tan Sri Shafee Abdullah called for a press conference today which confirmed the report.
He revealed Zeti and family were a recipient of monies from Jho Low. So did Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop and mandated manager of his account, Nik Faisal. And, all the parties need to bury Najib to cover their wrongdoings of receiving illicit money.
The prosecution had concealed evidences from the defense making a victim of the accused. There is also the failure of law enforcement to complete investigation before proceeding to prosecute.
The video of Shafee's press conference in full below:
The press release are provided below:
PRESS STATEMENT
1. On 19.11.2021 the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) issued a press release on recovery of fund assets of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) from inter alia Singapore. It was stated therein that previously, the Government of Singapore had repatriated a sum of USD15,4000,000.00 to Malaysia relating to an account of Cutting-Edge Industries Ltd. belonging to inter alia Tawfiq Ayman, the husband of Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz, the former Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM).
2. More surprisingly is that the MACC statement said that Cutting Edge Industries is jointly owned by Tawfik Ayman and Samuel Goh.
3. Samuel Goh had testified in Singapore courts in the year 2016 that he was paid US$4 million to set-up the fake offshore accounts which 1MDB transferred billions of Ringgit to which eventually found its way to Jho Low and his cohorts.
4. In the same press statement, the MACC had also announced that a sum of USD864,813.27 had been returned to Malaysia from the Singaporean government belonging to former Chief Executive Officer of SRC International Sdn. Bhd. Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil.
5. Arising out of the MACC press statement, on 22.11.2021 responding to a question in parliament, Law Minister Datuk Seri Dr. Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar was asked about the issue of the 1MDB related monies being remitted to the accounts of the former BNM Governor’s family members and revealed that this information had been known by the Royal Malaysian Police Department since 2019 during Dato’ Sri Najib Hj. Abd Razak’s SRC trial in the High Court.
6. Furthermore, on 24.11.2021 former Attorney General Tan Sri Tommy Thomas, during an interview, candidly admitted to knowledge of ‘the role of Zeti and her husband in facilitating Jho Low’ regarding 1MDB. Tommy Thomas further revealed that there were investigation papers opened by the MACC against the former BNM Governor during his tenure as the Attorney General.
7. The information recently disclosed above are of material relevance to our client’s defence and appears to have been supressed from our client despite the same being available at the time of his SRC trial that has the effect of prejudicing his defence.
8. The material relevancy of the information is that:
a) Dato’ Sri Najib’s defence has always been that at all material times, he was informed that the money entering his personal accounts were derived from donations of the Saudi Arabian Royal family and that if he knew that funds were channelled from elsewhere (such as 1MDB or SRC) he would have immediately taken corrective action and reported the same to the authorities;
b) At the SRC Trial evidence was led which confirmed that in 2011, Dato’ Sri Najib had informed a then director of AmBank Cheah Tek Kuang to ensure that all rules and regulations were complied with when opening and operating the accounts;
c) Cheah Teck Kuang confirmed on oath that he duly informed Tan Sri Zeti of the opening of our client’s bank accounts in AmBank for the purpose of receiving donations from Arab Royalty;
d) Dato’ Sri Najib has also gone on record saying that he on at least one occasion, had duly informed Tan Sri Zeti of the purpose of opening the AmBank accounts and that it was to enable her to maintain oversight over the accounts as the top banking regulator in the country. She was specifically tasked by Dato' Sri Najib to monitor his accounts.
e) As matters proceeded, witnesses from AmBank in the SRC Trial confirmed that all remittances to our client’s account were reported to BNM including the remittance of USD 620 million and RM42 million alleged to be from 1MDB/SRC;
f) Dato’ Sri Najib has maintained that he had relied on BNM and the then Governor to raise issue in the event there were anything irregular happening with his accounts. Neither BNM nor Tan Sri Zeti herself alerted him to any irregularities, he had a genuine belief that all moneys entering his account were from donations from the Saudi Arabian royal family;
g) In fact, witnesses from MACC and Ambank had testified in the SRC case that as much as RM642 million were transferred directly from Saudi Arabia including from bank accounts owned by the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Finance to Dato' Sri Najib's account which were then fully spent on various CSR projects and programs.
h) The evidence that was disclosed at trial revealed that Jho Low was actively concealing the true nature of the account from our client through his various co-conspirators;
i) Accordingly, with the recent revelations by the MACC and Tan Sri Tommy Thomas regarding Tan Sri Zeti “facilitating” Jho Low, such evidence is material to why no red flags were raised to Dato’ Sri Najib on any irregularities on the accounts;
j) The above explains and materially justifies his defence that there were concerted efforts to keep him in the dark by Jho Low and the conspirators.
The recent revelation that Nik Faisal Arif Kamil had also received funds from Jho Low through 1MDB also adds to a case for the defence as Nik Faisal was tasked with managing the AmBank accounts on Dato’ Sri Najib’s behalf and to similarly inform him of any irregularities.
9. Further to the matters stated, Dato Sri’ Najib has also raised concerns that the former BNM Governor was also appointed to the Council of Eminent Persons by the Pakatan Harapan Government who then emplaned a “1MDB task force” to investigate matters involving 1MDB and SRC International.
10. Another matter which was not filed yesterday was that we have received information that another prosecution witness which was pulled from testifying at the last minute had similarly received up to RM85 million via proxy accounts in Singapore.
11. Dato' Sri Najib had made a police report on this a few days back and we are now compiling evidence and may make a further submission in the coming days as he played a key role in evaluating and recommending SRC to be given the RM4 billion government guarantee.
12. Considering the recent revelations, there is a real danger that the investigations that took place by the 1MDB task force were either incomplete or catered in a manner to place blame on Dato Sri Najib while hiding the involvement of other personalities raising the question whether the evidence provided to him at trial were complete or in fact, filtered.
13. Such concealment of evidence and failure to complete investigations on key actors in the SRC chain of events means that Dato Sri Najib would have been prematurely charged and deprived of a full and complete trial.
14. Therefore, as a matter of urgency we are instructed, which we have done so, to file before the Court of Appeal a motion to admit further evidence to be recorded and considered by the judges at the Court of Appeal before delivering a decision.
15. We note that the motion comes at a time where the decision of the SRC Appeal is days away, however the very recent revelations by key agencies and personalities such as the former Attorney General has created a situation that cannot be left ignored or unanswered in defence of Dato’ Sri Najib in all the charges before him.
16. However, in order to prevent any delay (if any) towards the judicial process, we will be seeking for an urgent hearing on our motion to facilitate matters and we seek patience from those interested in the developments in this case.
Messrs Shafee & Co.
Solicitors for Dato Sri Najib Hj Abd Razak
Dated: 2nd December 2021
Desperate lah.
ReplyDeleteZero connection between the two.
"Arab Royalty" is called Eric Tan Kim Loong of Tanore Finance, as the forensic trail shows.
I hope Mael Teloq Penyu has fixed the judges, because otherwise this crook is heading for Sg Buloh.