EXPECT FIREWORKS NEXT WEEK
Heated arguments as trial reveals testimony about bank raid, Jho Low
THE first week of Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s trial concluded on Thursday. The former prime minister must have been relieved to see the end of it after five days of sitting in the dock hearing back and forth arguments between his lawyers and the prosecution team out to prove their case.
Najib had apparently hurt his leg after an evening exercising the night before, and he was seen limping on Thursday.
“Why are you limping?” a reporter asked him as he was walking to the lifts at the Kuala Lumpur High Court and the toppled leader smiled before replying that it was because he had gone to the gym.
On Wednesday, Najib lost his cool when a policeman tried to stop a student who had approached
him to complain about being prevented from entering the courtroom to hear proceedings.
Najib shouted at the policeman who tried to stop the youth but later apologised.
“I am sorry. He wants to ask me questions,” he said, before the policeman nodded.
Najib later told the youth that it was not within his powers to decide on such matters (on who could be allowed to attend hearings).
The tense atmosphere was a far cry from the start of the week when Najib kept himself busy in court by fiddling with his handphone, reading a book and chatting with reporters and supporters during breaks in the hearing.
It has been a hectic week after the trial finally got into full swing on Monday, with both sides already involved in heated arguments over the line of questioning and other legal issues.
A total of seven witnesses have testified in the trial where Najib is accused of plundering RM42 million of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) linked company, SRC International Sdn Bhd’s funds.
Those who had taken the stand included an officer from the Companies Commission of Malaysia, a Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) officer who led a raid on the AmBank Group branch office in Jalan Raja Chulan in July 2015, a BNM analyst, a BNM investigating officer, a senior manager at the AmBank Group, an interior designer who was involved in building a storeroom for clothes at Najib’s house and also the owner of a company who had fixed a water tank at the residence.
The court has so far heard why BNM officers raided the AmBank Group branch office as part of its investigation into offences committed under the Anti Money Laundering Act (AMLA).
The prosecution has also established a paper trail involving the transfer of millions of ringgit from a 1MDB company to another, including the flow of RM5 million to RM40 million between SRC International, Gandingan Mentari Sdn Bhd and Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd, which was purportedly set up as SRC International’s corporate social responsibility partner.
The infamous Low Taek Jho @ Jho Low’s name has also cropped up in the trial, with one of Najib’s counsels also waving the bestselling novel of the 1MDB scandal — Billion Dollar Whale —in court.
One of the recurring terms that keeps cropping up in the trial is the role of “rogue bankers”, which Najib’s lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said the defence is going to expose.
Shafee has gone to town saying that his client was a victim of a conspiracy between Jho Low and the “rogue bankers”, and this line of questioning is expected to take centre stage next week.
The court has already ordered BNM investigating officer Ahmad Farhan Sharifuddin, 32, to produce items which were seized from the 2015 raid at the AmBank Group branch office, including any communication between Jho
Low and Najib’s relationship manager at the bank by the name of Joanna Yu.
Shafee said transcripts of the messages exchanged between the duo had been widely reported not only in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), but also in the Sarawak report and the Billion Dollar Whale.
The defence is hoping the messages from a Blackberry phone used by Yu to communicate with Jho Low would help vindicate their client.
“It is the most critical. I can tell you if they try to hide this, it will be doomsday for them.
“They cannot hide this. It is everywhere.
“It is in the WSJ, it is even in the Sarawak Report.
“If it is missing, there is going to be serious trouble,” Shafee told reporters after the trial wrapped up for the week on Thursday.
Farhan who was supposed to bring the items that day failed to do so and he is expected to do so on Monday.
“I am sure by Monday he will be able to get it. If he doesn't find it, we will find it for him. Because we have got copies, trust me,” Shafee said.
Earlier, Shafee also read out parts of the transcript of the messages between Yu and Jho Low, which, among other things, showed how the fugitive financier instructed the banker not to let anyone outside the bank or more than a few people inside to know about the accounts.
It also included Jho Low instructing Yu not to use the bank’s email system but her personal Gmail account and not to send credit card statements to the former prime minister’s house.
Expect fireworks on week two of the “Orang No. 1” ( as Najib was referred to by one of the witnesses) trial this Monday.