FORMER prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak should be acquitted of charges of abusing his position to misappropriate billions from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), his lead defence counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah argued in the High Court today.
Shafee told the court that Najib had four donation letters purportedly proving that the RM2 billion deposited into his personal bank accounts were legitimate contributions from Saudi Arabia.
He claimed these documents were more credible than the testimony of prosecution witness Jasmine Loo, the former 1MDB in-house lawyer.
“Then my client should walk free, because my client had the backing of every document unlike Jasmine Loo — he had got the four donation letters and all other things,” Shafee said. “He has got a more credible story as compared to the flimsy story of Jasmine Loo.”
Najib has consistently maintained that the funds in question were Saudi donations, not misappropriated 1MDB money. The prosecution, however, has dismissed the letters as fabricated.
During the hearing, defence lawyer Wan Azwan Aiman Wan Fakhruddin challenged Loo’s credibility, highlighting millions of US dollars channelled into the bank account of her company, River Dee International SA.
Judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah asked whether Loo had explained the source of those funds. Defence lawyer Tania Scivetti responded that under previous questioning, Loo had claimed the money came from a joint venture with fugitive financier Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low.
“And I asked her, ‘Do you have any documents to support that?’ She said, ‘No,’” Scivetti told the court.
Shafee then argued that Loo’s version was implausible given her background as a corporate lawyer in one of Kuala Lumpur’s most prominent law firms.
“Can we believe she doesn’t have a single document to testify to the fact that this money she received was from a joint venture with Jho Low? That Jho Low was giving and giving, and she was taking?” he said.
He also noted that Loo had previously fled Malaysia before returning to testify for the prosecution.
“But what is critical is, we have also proven in this court, and Jasmine Loo admitted, that she was a fugitive on the run with Jho Low,” Shafee said.
“There were many times they were in the same country like China and Myanmar, and Jho Low assisted her to be brought in illegally without her passport being stamped.”
“Contrast that with my client — my client doesn’t have that kind of relationship with Jho Low. There is no proof Jho Low has done services of that nature for Datuk Seri Najib,” he added.
Low, whose whereabouts remain unknown, continues to be sought by Malaysian authorities.
Najib’s 1MDB trial is scheduled to resume next week. - October 24, 2025
