KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 2 — Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said today he plans to use the recent conviction of two men in Switzerland over the US$1.8 billion 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) fraud case to help his client Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1MDB trial.
The lawyer claimed that his client Najib is not implicated in the Switzerland Federal Criminal Court’s August 28 decision to convict Swiss-based company PetroSaudi’s officials Patrick Mahony and Tarek Obaid.
“I want to stress that in Switzerland, not only was Datuk Seri Najib not implicated in terms of allegations, he was never implicated even in the allegations… very important.
“But in coming to the conclusion that these two were guilty, they also never implicated Datuk Seri Najib,” he claimed at a press conference here after a hearing for Najib’s 1MDB trial.
Shafee claimed the Swiss court made no “side remarks” about Najib when finding the two PetroSaudi officials guilty and said the Swiss court had said the duo were working together with Low Taek Jho to cheat 1MDB.
Shafee argued that Low is not Najib’s representative, citing various testimonies in Najib’s 1MDB trial here and the Swiss case’s decision.
Shafee said he is now trying to get the Swiss court’s full written judgment and that he has so far obtained the one written in French, saying: “I have just asked for the English copy, and that is being sent.”
“What I intend to do is to find ways and means to introduce that judgment as part of judicial notice to enhance our case,” he added, having said that Malaysia’s evidence laws allow judgments from foreign courts to be brought to the Malaysian courts’ attention.
When asked how he knew what was decided in the Swiss case if he had not read the judgment, Shafee said he had read excerpts of it in news reports. He also said he has a press release by the Swiss courts on the case.
A quick check of the Swiss Federal Criminal Court’s website shows that the English version of the August 28 press release on the two PetroSaudi officials mentions Najib’s name twice.
The press release said Switzerland’s Federal Criminal Court found the two PetroSaudi officials guilty of cheating 1MDB of US$1.8 billion, by using a fake joint venture between PetroSaudi and 1MDB.
Among other things, the press release said these two PetroSaudi officials carried out actions together with Low Taek Jho and with the support of three people including Najib.
“They acted in concert with Jho Low—a confidant of the then Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak and an informal consultant holding no official position within 1MDB—as well as with the support of two members of 1MDB management and Najib Razak himself,” the statement said, among other things.
Najib’s 1MDB trial in the High Court here is scheduled to resume on September 10. Previously, 50 prosecution witnesses had testified over 235 days of trial.
It is now at the stage where both Najib’s lawyers and the prosecution will present their final arguments before the High Court decides if Najib has to defend himself against the charges or if he will be acquitted in the 1MDB case.