PUTRAJAYA, Jan 22 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak today told the High Court that he did not ask the then Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamed for a “favour” on the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) investigation.
Testifying in his own defence in the 1MDB trial where he is accused of receiving and laundering over RM2 billion of 1MDB funds, Najib claimed that Abu Kassim did contact him about the 1MDB investigation and claimed that “he indicated I was not involved”.
Asked by his lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah if he had asked Abu Kassim to “do me this favour”, Najib said “no” and said that he would have been in trouble if he did ask the MACC chief for a favour.
Najib was being asked about an audio clip recording of the Attorney General’s Chambers’ (AGC) then deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Tan Sri Dzulkifli Ahmad’s near-midnight phone call to him on January 5, 2016. At that time, Najib was the prime minister.
Based on a transcript of that phone call, Dzulkifli was speaking to Najib about an investigation paper on MACC’s probe which had mentioned Najib’s involvement, while Najib questioned how he could be said to be involved and said Abu Kassim had said he was not involved.
In the transcript of that conversation, Najib had also said he would be meeting the attorney general — then Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali — later that week.
Asked by Shafee if he had in this phone conversation “directed Dzulkifli to do something to favour” him, Najib replied: “No, I did not, because if I did, I could have been charged for it.”
Najib said he had not been investigated or charged over this recorded phone conversation, and also said he had not been investigated or accused of tampering with the 1MDB investigation.
Yesterday, Najib disagreed that it was “wrong” for him as prime minister to listen to an update about an investigation being carried out against him, claiming that he did not “interfere” in the investigation.
Today, Shafee asked Najib about the same point: “Was it wrong, someone called you, and you answered and talked to him?”
Najib: “No, I don’t think it’s wrong.”
Asked if Dzulkifli was asking if he could do anything to “favour” Najib or if he was just giving a briefing, Najib replied: “No he didn’t ask anything more than that, he was just briefing me, updating me.”
Najib also said he later found out while he was still the prime minister that Abu Kassim had provided information to the US Department of Justice (DoJ) regarding 1MDB, and said his statement was not recorded at that time and that his statement was not available for the DoJ to make a full assessment.
“To me, it’s a very unfair action, because they should refer to me and get my side of the story,” he said.
Asked if it was usual for the AG or his deputies to brief the prime minister every now and then on public interest cases, Najib said: “Yes, as the usual practice, but we are mindful that we shouldn’t interfere in prosecution, but of public interest, yes.”
Najib said he cannot direct the AGC to take certain directions in investigations, and recalled that he had been blamed as prime minister when the AG decided to prosecute individuals.
“When it’s the decision of the AG, I don’t interfere, I get the blame as a prime minister. For example, Ling Liong Sik was charged, but that was the decision of Tan Sri Gani, he was adamant to charge, but I got the blame, and since then he has not been on speaking terms with me, until now,” he said.
As for the special task force formed and chaired by then Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail until his termination as AG in late July 2015, Najib said he viewed the task force as illegal.
Najib said this was because the attorney general does not have authority to form a task force: “Because that’s the purview of Cabinet to form a task force. So that’s why I considered the task force illegal in the sense that it’s not in accordance with normal administrative practice.”
Even though the task force later stopped existing after Gani was replaced as AG, Najib had previously said the investigation into 1MDB had continued on.