Thomas: Najib has fair point on why no charges against Zeti

Thomas: Najib has fair point on why no charges against Zeti

Published: Dec 11, 2024 3:15 PM


Former attorney-general Tommy Thomas conceded that Najib Abdul Razak had a fair point in questioning why no action was taken against former Bank Negara governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz.

Thomas, in the first episode of Malaysiakini and KiniTV’s new podcast “Straight Talk”, said it was a matter of resources.

"That's a fair point. What we would say is that our resources were stretched at the time," he said.

He said he had prioritised going after "sharks" in corruption cases like Najib, Low Taek Jho (Jho Low), Goldman Sachs and Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

"Then my plan would have been to go down to tier 2, the company directors and others.

"But definitely starting at the top. You can't go after small fish when the shark is at the top," Thomas added.

He was responding to a question from host Dennis Ignatius on Najib's complaints in court that prosecutors had not gone after Zeti (above) and her husband Tawfiq Ayman.

Najib had alleged that Zeti's family had received funds from purported 1MDB scandal mastermind Low.

In the course of the trial, Zeti testified that her family never received money from 1MDB.

Tawfiq also previously rubbished former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner’s bribery allegation against him.

‘A lot of information’

Thomas, however, appeared to indicate otherwise when asked to affirm that he did not rule out the possibility of charging Zeti and her husband.

"Of course not. We got a lot of information about her husband in Singapore and we got the money back," he said.

"The monies were parked in Zeti's husband's name, he didn't object (to repatriation), he accepted that it was Low's money," he added.

It is believed he was referring to the repatriation of US$15.4 million in 1MDB-linked funds from company accounts owned by Tawfiq and his sons.

Tawfiq was alleged to have received 1MDB-linked funds through Iron Rhapsody Ltd - a company that is allegedly beneficially owned by Tawfiq and one of his sons.

Iron Rhapsody was claimed to have transferred the 1MDB-linked funds to Cutting Edge Industries - which is also owned by Tawfiq and his sons, Abdul Aziz and Aliff Ayman.

It was reported that the Singapore Police Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) had in 2015 and 2016 shared information about the transactions involving Iron Rhapsody Ltd with Bank Negara.

Zeti only retired as central bank governor in April 2016.

Thomas said the decision on who to charge depended on the findings of police and MACC, and that the Attorney-General's Chambers can only make decisions based on what is presented to them.