FORMER Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has issued an apology for all that transpired during the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) financial scandal.
However, he asserted his innocence, claiming he was deceived by fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) and his associates.
Najib said he had reflected on the scandal, which US authorities had dubbed the largest kleptocracy, over the past 26 months.
“It pains me every day to know that the 1MDB debacle happened under my watch as finance minister and prime minister.
“For that, I would like to apologise unreservedly to the nation,” he said in a statement read out by his eldest son Datuk Mohamad Nizar at the Kuala Lumpur High Court today.
Najib also said recent events, including the court hearing, clearly showed he was not the mastermind.
He also maintained that he honestly believed that the funds received were from Saudi Arabia, and not misappropriated from the strategic state development fund.
"The recent court hearings and conviction of the PetroSaudi executives in the Switzerland courts as well as the recent article by The Edge, based on their analysis of the case as well as internal PetroSaudi emails in their possession again proves that I am not the mastermind and did not collaborate with Jho Low in deceiving 1MDB of its funds."
Najib said the article had concluded that PetroSaudi and Jho Low had collaborated to deceive him and that he was not aware that Petrosaudi was siphoning 1MDB funds.
He added that the article had also concluded that he did not knowingly receive any money from the funds sent by 1MDB to PetroSaudi.
Najib's statement comes on the heels of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's announcement, during the tabling of Budget 2025 last week, that the government would introduce a new law to allow house arrest as an alternative sentence for certain offences.
“I am still in deep shock knowing now the extent of the wretched and unconscionable shenanigans, and illegal things that happened in 1MDB.”
Najib added that since he had already been punished politically over the affair, he “should not be victimised legally too”.
“Being held legally responsible for things that I did not initiate or knowingly enable is unfair to me and I hope and pray that the judicial process will, in the end, prove my innocence," he added.
Najib, 71, is currently serving his jail term as he was convicted over the misappropriation of former 1MDB subsidiary SRC International Sdn Bhd’s RM42 million, and cannot speak to the public directly as a prisoner. - October 24, 2024
