Najib claims AG, MACC chief and CCID director are 'not qualified' to take on 1MDB case

KUALA LUMPUR: Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak is claiming that several top government officials are "not qualified" to pursue the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) investigation, including the Attorney General (AG), the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief and the Federal Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director.

Najib is seeking an order and declaration that the involvement of AG Tommy Thomas, MACC chief commisisoner Mohd Syukri Abdull and Federal CCID Director Commissioner Datuk Seri Amar Singh Ishar Singh in the 1MDB case is invalid.

Najib alleged that in July 2016, Thomas, who was not the AG then, wrote an article entitled, "Grand Larceny 1MDB", which concluded that the money deposited into Najib's personal bank account was actually 1MDB's money.

The former premier claimed that in the article, Thomas' stance clearly revealed he did not "like" him (Najib). This had made Najib concerned that Thomas would still find a way to press a charge against him for any reason.

The plaintiff claimed the article had clearly showed that Thomas did not have his "own stand" and lacked appropriate judgement.

Najib claimed that Thomas should and/was not qualified to be involved in the 1MDB's investigation in any way.

The former premier also stressed that at a press conference held on SRC International, Mohd Syukri, who was newly appointed as MACC chief commissioner, had summarised, among others, that he (Najib) had received RM42mil and also RM2.6bil, when at that time, he (Najib) had yet to be called to give a statement to MACC.

He alleged that the media statement by Mohd Syukri was "emotional" and "vengeful" in nature. Najib added that it was unfortunate that Mohd Syukri had described him (Najib) as an "offender".

The plaintiff said Mohd Syukri should be neutral pending the completion of the investigation, but instead chose to punish without "solid grounds". This made Najib feel that he would not have a "fair" and transparent investigation.

Najib said Mohd Syukri was not qualified to head the MACC team, nor be a member of the taskforce to investigate 1MDB.
The former Umno president also claimed that the raid conducted by Amar Singh at various premises, including at Pavilion Residences, did not follow Standard Operating Procedure and several police reports had been lodged.

Najib said Amar Singh's integrity could be disputed, and he believed that Amar Singh was not qualified to become an advisor to the special 1MDB task force.

Thomas, Mohd Syukri Abdull and Amar had originating summons (ex-parte) filed separately against each of them at the Kuala Lumpur High Court via the law firm Badrul, Samad, Faik & Co on June 28.

Najib has named all three of them as the respondents in his lawsuit, besides asking for costs and other reliefs.