Kuala Lumpur: Najib Razak’s lawyer told the High Court here today that one of the abuse of power charges preferred against the former prime minister in his 1MDB corruption case is defective as it fails to properly identify the offence he is accused of.
Shafee Abdullah said Najib’s first charge – in which the former prime minister is alleged to have committed a series of offences between 2009 and 2011 – was confusing and did not state his interest during the period.
He added that the prosecution claims Najib committed the offence in three different capacities – as prime minister, finance minister and 1MDB advisory board chairman.
The DPPs (deputy public prosecutors) crafted this first charge in a convoluted fashion, and got it wrong, Shafee said during submissions at the close of the prosecution’s case today.
SPONSORED CONTENT Hajiji says young business professionals' inputs needed to develop Sabah Kota Kinabalu: Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor said he welcomed inputs from young business professionals to assist in policy formulation. Read more The prosecution closed its case on May 30, having called 50 witnesses to testify over five years.
Shafee also said, according to the charge, Najib had committed
the abuse of power offence at the Jalan Raja Chulan AmBank branch.
He was never at the bank on that date. Why do the DPPs say he was there to ‘abuse’ his power? Shafee asked.
He said Najib was not in a position to prepare his defence because of this defective charge.
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 defence will continue its submission tomorrow before Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah.
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