Lawyer argues Najib wasn’t ‘wilfully blind’ to source of RM2b or laundering money, but transparently returned donation

PUTRAJAYA, Oct 28 — Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was not being wilfully blind on the source of the US$681 million (RM2.081 billion) which previously entered his bank accounts, as he had genuinely believed these were donations to him from Saudi Arabia, his lawyer argued today.

In October last year, 1MDB trial judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah ruled Najib had to defend himself in the trial involving over RM2 billion of 1MDB funds, and said the former prime minister was “wilfully blind” as he did not ask where the money was from when he should have done so. 

Responding to the judge’s previous findings, Najib’s lawyer Datuk Tania Scivetti today argued that her client’s “transparent” conduct showed that he was not wilfully blind.

Scivetti listed various reasons, including Najib transparently opening a bank account in AmBank under his own name to receive donations which he said was promised by the then Saudi ruler King Abdullah.

She said Najib had also informed AmBank’s then managing director Cheah Tek Kuang that the account he had opened was to receive donations from Saudi royalty, and that both AmBank and Bank Negara Malaysia did not raise any red flags over the money which came into his account.

“Datuk Seri Najib had clear and objective grounds to believe, and did in fact believe, that the funds were a legitimate donation from His Majesty King Abdullah,” she asserted in the 1MDB trial at the High Court.

Scivetti also cited King Abdullah’s alleged January 11, 2010 promise to provide financial support during a meeting with Najib, as well as four purported donation letters from a Saudi royal named Prince Saud.

Scivetti also said that Najib had seen money flowing into his bank account every time after each Saudi donation letter had been issued, and argued it was “reasonable” for Najib to have the “understanding” that these funds were to honour King Abdullah’s pledge of personal donation to him.

She also cited Najib’s writing of a letter to then Bank Negara Malaysia governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz regarding his planned return of the unused sum of US$620 million out of the US$681 million “donation” to the original source.

“Such conduct is wholly contrary to wilful blindness, it reflects a transparent and genuine belief that the funds were legitimate donations,” she said. 

Among other things, she cited Saudi’s then foreign minister Adel Al-Jubeir’s 2016 confirmation of the donation, and said the lack of official statements from Saudi Arabia to deny the money as King Abdullah’s donations also strengthens Najib’s understanding that he was receiving donations.

Scivetti concluded her arguments by arguing that the prosecution had failed to prove the 21 money laundering charges against Najib in the 1MDB trial, and that he should be acquitted of these charges.

The 21 money laundering charges are namely nine charges for receiving US$681 million — which the prosecution says belongs to 1MDB and are not Saudi donations — in his bank account; five charges for his sending out of the US$620 million; five charges for issuing cheques totalling RM22.649 million; and two charges for transferring money to his other bank accounts.

Among other things, Scivetti said it would have been strange for Najib to have returned money if it was a bribe he had corruptly received, and said it would be rational for him to return the U$620 million (RM2.034 billion) as an unused donation which he no longer needed after the 13th general election.

Scivetti argued that Najib was not carrying out money laundering by “layering” or hiding the source of illegal funds with complex transactions, when he transferred US$620 million out of his bank account.

This was because Najib was sending US$620 million back to the sender Tanore Finance Corp through the banking system and with prior written disclosure to regulator Bank Negara, she said.

“Respectfully, Your Lordship, this was not layering but the very opposite — a transparent return to the same account from which Datuk Seri Najib had received the funds,” she said.

Najib’s 1MDB trial resumes tomorrow, with his lead defence lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah expected to present further arguments.

[Source: Malay Mail]