Lawyer: 1MDB CEO role enriched Shahrol, not Najib, defence argues as Jho Low raked in US$1.9b

PUTRAJAYA, Oct 27 — Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi did receive benefits in the form of his former high-paying job as 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) CEO, former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s lawyer argued today.

Najib’s lawyer Datuk Tania Scivetti today challenged Shahrol’s credibility as a prosecution witness against her client, by claiming that Shahrol got his job as 1MDB CEO due to now-fugitive Low Taek Jho’s recommendation.

Scivetti also argued that Low received benefits exceeding US$1.9 billion because of Shahrol’s signature as CEO on 1MDB documents.

She also challenged the idea that Shahrol was acting under the influence of others for Najib’s benefit.

She noted that the prosecution had said Low was Najib’s mirror image, and that Shahrol had acted on Low’s instructions as he believed those instructions to have come from Najib.

While the prosecution has said Najib received about US$50 million between 2009 and 2012 and which Najib insists was a Saudi donation instead of 1MDB funds, Scivetti said Low had received US$1.988 billion during the same period.

“So while the prosecution would have this court believe that Shahrol was a dutiful subordinate acting under others’ influence for the benefit of Datuk Seri Najib, the facts tell a very different story,” she said in Najib’s 1MDB trial at the High Court here.

Instead, she accused Shahrol of being a “willing participant” and as having benefited from Low’s 1MDB scheme.

Scivetti was providing further replies to 1MDB trial judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah’s question last week on whether there was any evidence that Shahrol had benefited from 1MDB transactions and 1MDB deals.

Today, Scivetti said Najib’s lawyers would not know if Shahrol had received cash and other valuables from Low, which she said could have easily been stashed in safety deposit boxes placed under other names.

But Scivetti said Shahrol’s former client at Accenture was Low, and that Low recommended his appointment as CEO of Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA) — which was later renamed as 1MDB.

Scivetti listed all the ways that Shahrol had allegedly benefited because of that job recommendation, including his salary as 1MDB CEO being RM99,000 monthly or an annual salary of RM1.2 million, perks, a driver, directors’ meeting allowances, and bonuses.

Scivetti said Shahrol had also received a RM160,000 signing bonus when he took the job, and the prestigious job as the CEO of a sovereign wealth fund had elevated his standing.

Scivetti said employment and related job benefits come under the MACC Act’s Section 3(b)’s definition of “gratification”, and argued that the 1MDB CEO job allegedly secured by Low meant Shahrol did benefit.

Scivetti said Low gained US$1.988 billion because of Shahrol’s signature, namely US$958 million in 2012 via Aabar Investment PJS Limited to a company linked to Low, and US$700 million in 2009 and US$330 million in 2011 to Low’s company Good Star Limited’s bank account.

Najib’s defence lawyer Wan Azwan Aiman Wan Fakhruddin later continued to challenge the testimony and credibility of other prosecution witnesses, when defending his client over charges of having abused his position to benefit financially from 1MDB.

Wan Azman Aiman argued that Najib’s lawyers had successfully rebutted the third abuse of power charge against his client, and that the prosecution had allegedly failed to prove the fourth abuse of power charge.

Najib’s trial, where he is facing 25 charges over more than RM2 billion of 1MDB funds, resumes tomorrow with his lawyers Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah and Scivetti expected to present arguments in his defence.

[Source: Malay Mail]