DATUK Seri Najib Razak's lawyer today claimed that his client was denied the right to a fair trial in his trial over 1Malaysia Development Berhad’s (1MDB) RM2.2 billion funds.
Wan Azwan Aiman Wan Fakhruddin claimed the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had allegedly carried out a biased and shoddy investigation against him.
He told the Kuala Lumpur High Court that the ex-prime minister was charged even before MACC had even completed recording his statement.
He claimed that MACC’s investigating officer Senior Superintendent Nur Aida Arifin’s investigation of his client’s 1MDB case was “biased, selective, shoddy and incomplete”.
"There was a predetermined intention to prosecute Najib, regardless of the outcome of the probe. Najib was charged on Sept 20, 2018, when the MACC had yet to wrap up recording the accused’s statement as part of the probe,” he said.
He told the court that when the investigation papers were brought to AGC for their consideration, Najib’s statement under Section 53 did not form part of that consideration for the charges to be levelled against him.
He claimed the investigation was biased as Najib was not alerted about the possible charges that he may face when the MACC recorded his statement.
"It is a requirement under the MACC Act’s Section 53(3) for notice to be given to an individual of the charges which they would be prosecuted with.
“Her investigation therefore could not be said to be satisfactory, complete, judicious and fair,” he said.
Najib, who was in a wheelchair and was on sick leave for four days last week due to pain in his right knee, was seen seated outside the accused’s dock on a chair with a cane.
Najib, 71, faces 25 counts of money laundering and abuse of power in connection to 1MDB money amounting to RM2.28 billion. The sum was deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014. – September 18, 2024.
