KUALA LUMPUR (April 22): An investigating officer (IO) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in the 1 Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) debacle revealed that during the course of her investigation into Datuk Seri Najib Razak, the former prime minister had never divulged to her about meeting the late King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia in 2010, where the king purportedly pledged to give Najib donations. 

Nur Aida Arifin, 37, the 49th prosecution witness in the 1MDB-Tanore trial, said that the onus was on Najib to inform her and investigators of 1MDB about the meeting in order to defend himself. 

The meeting was purportedly held in January 2010 in Riyadh between Najib and the late king. Najib was accompanied by then foreign minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman, Malaysian ambassador to Saudi Arabia Professor Datuk Syed Omar Al-Saggaf, and minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom, who had all testified to this meeting during the defence stage of Najib’s SRC International Sdn Bhd trial.

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SRC is a former subsidiary of 1MDB.

During cross-examination by Najib’s lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, Nur Aida was asked why she did not record statements from Anifah, Syed Omar, and Jamil. Nur Aida retorted that Najib did not divulge the meeting when he was called by the MACC to record his statement. 

"There were no issues [regarding this]. Najib's [statement to the MACC] also did not mention this. It was only during the SRC trial that this issue came up," she said. 

Shafee: Why did you not ask him further about this meeting? 

Nur Aida: It is for him to bring it up to defend himself. 

Thus far, the meeting was only mentioned at the later stages of Najib’s SRC defence, and prior to this line of questioning by Shafee, it had never been brought up in the 1MDB-Tanore trial. 

In the SRC trial, Jamil testified that the meeting had indeed taken place, and that King Abdullah, during the meeting, told Najib that he would send the money to Najib’s private account to strengthen political ties between the two men.

Earlier, Nur Aida also agreed with Shafee that the former prime minister was uncomfortable with the large sums of monies in his account.

"Najib [said] that he wanted to [source monies] for political funding, and did not want to use means ('cara-cara') used by the previous prime ministers," the IO said.

Shafee agreed that this is in line with his client's defence.

The senior lawyer then listed other people who had taken 1MDB funds but kept them overseas or had yet to return the funds. He asserted that Najib didn't hide the monies overseas, but rather, they were kept locally, showing that Najib did not have ill intent.

To back up his argument, Shafee noted that out of the US$680 million Najib received, US$620 million was returned to the sender. 

To this, Nur Aida said: "Najib said that there was no use for the money [returned]. He wanted to avoid any accusations ('tohmahan') over the high sums in his account." 

Shafee again asked if any 'robbers' would return any of the funds. Nur Aida agreed that 'robbers' who stole money would not return it. 

The lead defence counsel then asked if Najib had used the funds for his personal use, such as partying overseas. The IO said that there were some expenses for lavish purchases, and also overseas hotel stays.

However, Shafee stated that about "95%- 99%" of the funds were for political and welfare purposes, including corporate social responsibilities. This was a point the defence had highlighted before, highlighting that payments were made to Umno Batu Kawan Penang and other Umno branches.  

Najib received US$800 million in his accounts in early 2013. While he claims the funds were a Saudi donation, investigators in Malaysia and the US Department of Justice have pieced together a money trail showing that most, if not all of the money, originated from 1MDB.

In July the same year, he returned the unused balance of US$620 million.

In the SRC trial, Najib was sentenced to 12 years' jail, but that sentence was commuted to six years earlier this year by the Pardons Board. 

In this trial, Najib faces four counts of abuse of power for using his position as the then prime minister, finance minister, and chairman of 1MDB’s board of advisers to receive gratifications worth US$620 million (RM2.27 billion). He also faces 21 money-laundering charges.

The trial before Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues.  

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