Judge bent over backwards to save case against Najib, says lawyer
Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali was alleged by Najib Razak’s lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah to have favoured the prosecution.
PUTRAJAYA: The prosecution case against Najib Razak in a RM42 million corruption case would have collapsed had the trial judge discarded the “incredible” evidence of a key witness, Najib’s lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah told the Court of Appeal today.
Shafee said the judge, Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, had instead bent over backwards to save the prosecution’s case at the prima facie stage to order the ex-prime minister to enter defence.
He accused the judge of having acted as the “second prosecutor” to save the testimony of SRC International director Suboh Md Yassin. “If the judge hadn’t, the prosecution’s case would have collapsed like a deck of cards,” Shafee said in his submission in Najib’s appeal against conviction and sentence.
Shafee said a maximum evaluation of the evidence adduced in the prosecution’s case in the High Court would have resulted in the conclusion that Suboh was at best “incredible” and at worst, a “completely unreliable” witness.
“There was no credible evidence to establish how exactly the funds relating to the RM42 million were transacted out of SRC and Gandingan Mentari Sdn Bhd to Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd between Dec 25, 2015 and Feb 6, 2016,” he said today before a three-member bench led by Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil.
Shafee said Suboh had made contradictory statements to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) during its investigations and while giving evidence in court, especially under cross-examination.
During the trial which ran from April 3, 2019 to July 28, 2020, Shafee said Suboh admitted to making conflicting statements to investigators in relation to his 13 signatures used in the instructions to Ambank to transfer funds.
Suboh said he had at first told MACC officers who met him in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates on Nov 17, 2015, that the signatures in the electronic fund transfer instructions to the bank were genuine.
However, he said while being cross-examined by Shafee that he told MACC officers in Putrajaya on May 28 and 30, 2018 that his signatures could have been forged.
Suboh also said he once again told MACC officers on Aug 13 and 15, 2018 that the signatures were genuine.
The defence had suggested that former SRC chief executive officer Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil could have “Photoshopped” (digitally manipulated) Suboh’s signature in the scanned copies before sending them to the bank to carry out the instructions to transfer funds.
Shafee had also suggested that Nik Faisal, who had gone missing, had forged and misused Suboh’s signature and put it in the hard copies.
Nik Faisal and Suboh were the signatories of the SRC account from which RM50 million was transferred to Gandingan Mentari, a subsidiary of SRC.
They were also signatories of the Gandingan Mentari account, where the same RM50 million was transferred to Ihsan Perdana, a company selected to carry out corporate social responsibility programmes for SRC.
The prosecution contend that RM42 million from Ihsan Perdana was transferred to Najib’s three Ambank accounts at the Jalan Raja Chulan branch via a “layering process” to conceal its origin.
Last July, Nazlan sentenced Najib to 12 years’ jail and ordered him to pay a RM210 million fine after finding him guilty on seven counts of abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering in relation to RM42 million belonging to SRC.
The hearing continues tomorrow.
Shafee said the judge, Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, had instead bent over backwards to save the prosecution’s case at the prima facie stage to order the ex-prime minister to enter defence.
He accused the judge of having acted as the “second prosecutor” to save the testimony of SRC International director Suboh Md Yassin. “If the judge hadn’t, the prosecution’s case would have collapsed like a deck of cards,” Shafee said in his submission in Najib’s appeal against conviction and sentence.
Shafee said a maximum evaluation of the evidence adduced in the prosecution’s case in the High Court would have resulted in the conclusion that Suboh was at best “incredible” and at worst, a “completely unreliable” witness.
“There was no credible evidence to establish how exactly the funds relating to the RM42 million were transacted out of SRC and Gandingan Mentari Sdn Bhd to Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd between Dec 25, 2015 and Feb 6, 2016,” he said today before a three-member bench led by Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil.
Shafee said Suboh had made contradictory statements to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) during its investigations and while giving evidence in court, especially under cross-examination.
During the trial which ran from April 3, 2019 to July 28, 2020, Shafee said Suboh admitted to making conflicting statements to investigators in relation to his 13 signatures used in the instructions to Ambank to transfer funds.
Suboh said he had at first told MACC officers who met him in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates on Nov 17, 2015, that the signatures in the electronic fund transfer instructions to the bank were genuine.
However, he said while being cross-examined by Shafee that he told MACC officers in Putrajaya on May 28 and 30, 2018 that his signatures could have been forged.
Suboh also said he once again told MACC officers on Aug 13 and 15, 2018 that the signatures were genuine.
The defence had suggested that former SRC chief executive officer Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil could have “Photoshopped” (digitally manipulated) Suboh’s signature in the scanned copies before sending them to the bank to carry out the instructions to transfer funds.
Shafee had also suggested that Nik Faisal, who had gone missing, had forged and misused Suboh’s signature and put it in the hard copies.
Nik Faisal and Suboh were the signatories of the SRC account from which RM50 million was transferred to Gandingan Mentari, a subsidiary of SRC.
They were also signatories of the Gandingan Mentari account, where the same RM50 million was transferred to Ihsan Perdana, a company selected to carry out corporate social responsibility programmes for SRC.
The prosecution contend that RM42 million from Ihsan Perdana was transferred to Najib’s three Ambank accounts at the Jalan Raja Chulan branch via a “layering process” to conceal its origin.
Last July, Nazlan sentenced Najib to 12 years’ jail and ordered him to pay a RM210 million fine after finding him guilty on seven counts of abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering in relation to RM42 million belonging to SRC.
The hearing continues tomorrow.
I told you Ktemoc is a Najib propagandist.
ReplyDeleteAt one point Back in 2014/ 2015 50% of his posts were attacking anyone who raised the 1MDB issue.
wakakaka, so childish, always holding me as a Najib propagandist for articles published by Malaysian mainstream media
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