PUTRAJAYA: The High Court has shot down Datuk Seri Najib Razak's defence of the Arab donation in the RM2.28bil 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) trial, calling it “not meritorious”.
Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah also said that the four letters Najib claimed were from Saudi Arabia were forgeries, as the originals were never produced before the court.
Najib, in his defence, testified that during a 2010 meeting, the late Saudi ruler King Abdullah had pledged financial support to him.
He claimed that four donation letters from Arab leaders issued between Feb 1, 2011, and June 1, 2014, pledged donations of US$100mil, US$375mil, US$800mil, and UK£50mil, respectively.
All these donation letters were addressed to Najib's residence in Jalan Langgak Duta, Taman Duta, Kuala Lumpur. They were printed on letterhead bearing the name Saud Abdulaziz bin Majid Al Saud.
“The accused was consistent in his belief that he was receiving funds from Saudi Arabia, pledged by the late monarch,” Justice Sequerah said in his decision here on Friday (Dec 27).
However, the judge found that no verification was conducted to confirm the source of the funds.
“There was no evidence of any formal acknowledgement by the government or any political party to the purported donor, and for that matter, by the accused himself.
“The alleged donation letters were addressed to the accused's private residence rather than to any official party address,” Justice Sequerah said.
The judge further said it defies reasonable belief that there was no proper and transparent accounting conducted despite having a colossal amount of money remitted into Najib’s bank account in the name of a political donation.
“It is inconceivable that a person in the position of prime minister of the ruling political party would not have accounting records kept by an organisation which was supposedly the beneficiary of these sums of money,” he added.
Najib is facing four counts of using his position to obtain RM2.28bil gratification from 1MDB's funds and 21 counts of money laundering involving the same amount.
The abuse of power offences were allegedly committed at an AmIslamic Bank Bhd branch, Jalan Raja Chulan, Bukit Ceylon, between Feb 24, 2011 and Dec 19, 2014.
Meanwhile, the money laundering offences were allegedly committed at the same location between March 22 and Aug 30, 2013.
The proceedings will resume this afternoon.
