Kuala Lumpur: The investigating officer in Najib Razak’s 1MDB case told the High Court today that all witnesses, including the former prime minister, were given the opportunity to explain themselves when statements were recorded from them.
Nur Aida Arifin of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission said that when her colleagues recorded statements from Najib in 2018, they showed him documents on 1MDB transactions and asked him to provide an explanation.
“We didn’t ask specific questions when we showed him these documents.
“We asked what were the actions that were taken (in executing) the documents,” she said.
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To a question by lawyer Wan Azwan Aiman Wan Fakhruddin on whether MACC told Najib the possible charges he would be facing when his statement was recorded, Aida said they did not disclose anything to him.
She also said MACC did not question Najib on his meeting with Goldman Sachs’ bankers in 2009. During the meeting, Najib and the bankers allegedly spoke about potential investments that 1MDB could explore.
Then 1MDB CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi and chairman Che Lodin Wok Kamaruddin were also present at the meeting, she said.
Aida also affirmed that MACC did not record statements from former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and former investment banker Tim Leissner, who attended the meeting with Najib.
Najib is charged with 25 counts of money laundering and abuse of power over alleged 1MDB funds amounting to RM2.28 billion deposited in his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.
The hearing before Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues on April 27.
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