PUTRAJAYA: Despite his extensive experience in governance and quality education, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak admitted in the High Court that he made decisions on government-related measures with full awareness but sometimes miscalculated the impact.
The 71-year-old former prime minister said mistakes could happen if a matter was misrepresented, or he was misinformed or misled.
Najib, who was the first defence witness to testify in his trial over the misappropriation of RM2.3bil in 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) funds, said this under cross-examination by Deputy Public Prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib before Justice Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah (now an Appeals Court judge).
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"It is not a one-man show. When you are the Prime Minister, you rely on the support of many people. If the right kind of people support you, you will make the right decisions.
"In government, one can't get things 100% right based on facts. Sometimes, maybe you assess people wrongly," said Najib, citing the example of his Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) and Government Transformation Programme (GTP), which he said went through several rounds of focus group discussions with experts.
He also told the court that he was not a "country bumpkin" and that his intelligence was "ok-ok".
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Ahmad Akram: Someone with your education and your extensive experience in government, until you became the number one person in government, it would be difficult for someone to mislead you.
Najib replied, "I disagree."
Earlier, when questioned by his lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, Najib stated that he had never instructed fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho or Jho Low to be his mouthpiece and give instructions about 1MDB, nor had he ever authorised Jho Low to play any role in the company.
On Oct 30, 2024, Justice Sequerah ordered Najib to enter his defence, ruling that the prosecution had established a prima facie case against him.
Najib is facing 25 charges – four counts of using his position to secure RM2.3bil of 1MDB funds in bribes and 21 counts of money laundering involving the same amount.
The trial resumes on Thursday (Jan 9).
