NAJIB Razak’s defence that financial donations were promised to him from the Saudi royal family cannot withstand scrutiny and must be rejected, lead prosecutor V. Sithambaram said at the Court of Appeal today.

The former prime minister’s consistent claims about receiving Arab donations as a pledge of support from the late King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia were nothing but a cover up, he added when making submissions for the prosecution in Najib’s appeal against his conviction and sentencing on graft charges involving RM42 million of SRC International funds.

Mismatched testimonies

In highlights of testimonies presented to the appellate court today, Sithambaram said Najib’s account of meeting King Abdullah, as arranged by fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, bore discrepancies during the SRC trial at the high court on the date of the meeting and when the alleged donation was promised by the king.

The discrepancies were between the appellant’s (Najib) testimony and that of the defence witnesses. 

Najib said the meeting with King Abdullah was held together with former Malaysian ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Syed Omar Al-Saggaf (fourth defence witness), former minister in the prime minister’s department, Jamil Khir Baharom (fifth defence witness) and former foreign affairs minister Anifah Aman (sixth defence witness) in January 2010.

SIthambaram said the defence had attributed the discrepancies to inconsistent memory, adding that Najib had also said that the promised donation was based on Jho Low’s words. 

“The appellant could have easily instructed Syed Omar, Jamil Khir or Anifah to verify with the king or his palace but instead chose to rely on Jho Low. 

“This lack of confirmation from official channels ,which would normally occur between leaders of sovereign nations, is very telling that this so-called Arab donation is but a sham defence.”

In addition, Sithambaram said Jamil Khir said he did not know Jho Low. 

“It looks like Jho Low was supposed to arrange with the King but the minister didn’t know Jho Low. Is this a back channel arrangement?” SIthambaram said. 

Magic money

The prosecution also said it was “miraculous” that funds would “magically appear” in Najib’s accounts at the exact moment when needed, usually when the account was very low or overdrawn. 

“There is no probability that the purported Arab donors would be so kind and willing to transfer funds into the personal accounts of the appellant exactly when he needed them. 

“It looks like the Arab royalty was on standby to fund the appellant when he needed the same!” SIthambaram said.

No Arab letters as proof

The prosecution also submitted that Najib’s claim that the funds were donations was an afterthought.

“Prior to the appellant’s statement with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission recorded in December 2015, the allegation of criminal wrongdoings had already become a public scandal in July 2015. 

“The defence contends that the appellant had informed the governor of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) of the impending donation and submitted the four Arab letters to AmBank and BNM. 

“The original copies of the four Arab letters were never produced in court nor their maker called to prove them,” Sithambaram said.

Returned donations an absurd claim

The lawyer said High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali had noted the peculiarity of the appellant’s decision to return the bulk of unutilised funds amounting to US$620 million after the 13th general election.

Judge Nazlan wrote that Najib never contacted the king to explain the reason for the return of the US$620 million, nor was there any confirmation or acknowledgement of receipt of the funds by the king.

“My question is, why then return the money… why fear anyone finding out that it was in his accounts?

“He could have been open and transparent about it… tell everyone the source of the funds. Instead, he did not tell anyone… the cabinet did not know anything about it… no one knew,” Sithambaram said. 

Najib was found guilty on all seven charges of criminal breach of trust, money laundering and abuse of power by Nazlan on July 28 last year.

The prosecution today asserted that they stood with the judge’s findings. 

“The circumstances surrounding the Arab letters, the huge sums of monies involved, the unexplained return of the US$620 million in 2013, no pre-donation verification, no confirmation of receipt, no expression of gratitude, no query on the subsequent donations and the appellant’s unflinching dependence on Jho Low.

“These are all strong evidence to corroborate the fact that the appellant himself did not have a genuine belief that the donations had indeed came from the king,” Sithambaram said.

Najib is currently on bail of RM2 million in two sureties.

Today is the 11th day of the appeal hearing, which continues before a three-man bench led by Court of Appeal judge Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil, sitting with Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera and Has Zanah Mehat. – April 21, 2021.