Almost a year after being slapped with four charges of having used his positions to obtain gratification totalling RM2.3 billion in 1MDB funds and 21 counts of money laundering involving the same money, former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak will have his day in court tomorrow.
Najib, 66, is facing three counts of criminal breach of trust, one count of abusing his position and three counts of money laundering involving SRC International funds amounting to RM42 million. “Furthermore the prosecution has just served witness statements to the defence on Friday and the defence has 14 days to go through it,” said the DPP when contacted.
On July 18, Justice Sequerah dismissed the public prosecutor's notice of motion to adjourn the trial. Former Federal Court judge Gopal Sri Ram who was appointed as senior DPP will lead the prosecution team while lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah will lead the defence team. On Sept 26, 2009, Najib had ordered the 1MDB board of directors, which held a special meeting at The Royale Bintang, Damansara, Petaling Jaya, to approve a resolution to allow 1MDB to participate in a joint-venture with PetroSaudi International limited by making investments of RM1 billion in ordinary shares in the company at a price of US$1 per share.
On Aug 10, 2012, at the same place and as the finance minister, had approved the take over of Syarikat Mastika Lagenda Sdn Bhd equities at an aggregate purchase price of up to RM2.75 billion, and further approved 1MDB, to issue a 10-Year Structured Loan Note worth US$1.75 billion. On the fourth charge, Najib as the prime minister, finance minister and chairperson of the 1MDB board of advisors, had used his position to obtain gratification totalling RM49,930,985.70 by taking the following actions:
He faces imprisonment for up to 20 years and a fine of up to five times the sum or value of the gratification or RM10,000, whichever is higher, if found guilty.On the first to ninth count, Najib was charged with accepting a total of RM2,081,476,926, believed to be proceeds from money laundering activities, which was transferred into his AmIslamic Bank account number 2112022009694 from an account number 8550299001 belonging to Tanore Finance Corporation at Falcon Private Bank, Singapore.