1MDB taskforce meant to charge ex-PM Najib, effect govt change: Lawyer

1MDB taskforce meant to charge ex-PM Najib, effect govt change: Lawyer


Defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah today claimed that the 2015 1MDB special task force was set up to charge then-prime minister Najib Abdul Razak and bring a change of government.

However, former Bank Negara governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz denied this that was the intent of the task force she used to be a part of as she contended it was meant to investigate suspicious transactions linked to 1MDB.

The claim and exchange occurred during this afternoon's RM2.28 billion 1MDB corruption trial of the former finance minister Najib.

Shafee: I put to you that the real reason (behind the task force set up in 2015 before it was disbanded) was to find a way to charge a sitting prime minister (Najib) and effect a change of government.

Zeti: Not correct, as when the task force first met on June 9, 2015, there was no knowledge on the part of anybody from Bank Negara that there was a connection with 1MDB over the prime minister's account. That is not correct.

Shafee: That is not true. The MACC was secretly investigating the prime minister (Najib).

Zeti: Not to my knowledge and this was not mentioned in the task force meetings. It was to investigate 1MDB due to high-level concerns. If 1MDB were to default, then the implication on our country would be generational to the people currently living and grandchildren.

When Shafee grilled Zeti over an alleged criminal charge draft against Najib found in the possession of an unnamed deputy public prosecutor during an MACC raid following the disbandment of the 1MDB taskforce, Zeti said she had no knowledge of the matter.

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She also replied having no knowledge of the defence counsel’s claim that the task force was disbanded as the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) did not have the consent of the cabinet headed by Najib.

In 2015, before the task force's disbandment, there were viral online pictures of an alleged criminal charge against then-premier Najib.

Besides Zeti, the task force also comprised then attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail, then MACC chairperson Abu Kassim Mohamed, and then inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar.

Following the disbandment of the task force and the appointment of Mohamed Apandi Ali to replace Gani as attorney-general, the police immediately arrested several members of the AGC and MACC.

During cross-examination by Najib's counsel Shafee, Zeti the 4th prosecution witness denied that the Council of Eminent Persons (CEP), set up following the 14th General Election had the motive of prosecuting Najib over the 1MDB matter.

"I attended every (CEP) meeting for a 100 days. 1MDB was never discussed," Zeti contended during a heated exchange with Shafee.

When Shafee referred to a 2021 Malaysiakini interview with Mahathir where the ex-premier claimed he was unaware of allegations that Zeti's family received 1MDB-linked funds prior to her CEP appointment, the witness said she had never read the article.

Proceedings before trial judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah at the Kuala Lumpur High Court continue this afternoon.

Najib is facing four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering involving RM2.28 billion from 1MDB, a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund wholly owned by the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MOF Inc).

For the four abuse of power charges, the former Pekan MP is alleged to have committed the offences at AmIslamic Bank Bhd’s Jalan Raja Chulan branch in Bukit Ceylon, Kuala Lumpur, between February 24, 2011, and December 19, 2014.

On the 21 money laundering counts, the accused is purported to have committed the offences at the same bank between March 22, 2013, and August 30, 2013.