DATUK Seri Najib Tun Razak's lead lawyer, Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, insisted that the prosecution in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) case had failed to prove its case against the former Prime Minister and relied on evidence that was inadmissible in law.
In his closing arguments before Judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah, Muhamad Shafee said that the entire prosecution case was based on double hearsay evidence which did not fall within any legal exception and should be completely set aside.
“The prosecution in this case has cut off both its own legs. They now have no legs to stand on. All the evidence used against my client is just hearsay with no guarantee of truth,” he said today.
According to Muhamad Shafee, based on legal principles and foreign judicial decisions, statements made after an incident and conveyed through an intermediary cannot be accepted as valid evidence.
“None of the statements in this case were made spontaneously. All were made later and through a third party. It is not res gestae but a narrative designed to create a perception of guilt,” he said.
Muhamad Shafee also stressed that there is selective prosecution when other individuals in small-scale cases are detected and charged immediately.
Meanwhile, the main figures who were allegedly involved in the actual embezzlement of 1MDB were not touched at all.
“This is a notorious fact displayed on the front pages of the media. There are individuals who were detected abroad and immediately investigated but Jho Low who embezzled billions of ringgit is no longer listed in Interpol,” he said.
He added that several foreign individuals and former 1MDB directors who also received large funds were never charged, and even civil actions against them were withdrawn.
Apart from the evidence issue, Muhamad Shafee also stressed that the diplomatic relations between Malaysia and Saudi Arabia at that time proved that the RM2.6 billion funds received by Najib were legitimate contributions from the Saudi royal family.
“If the donation is not true, will King Salman officially come to Malaysia and invite Najib to perform Umrah with him? This is not a political narrative, this is a diplomatic fact,” he said.
According to him, Najib was never involved in the daily management of 1MDB and only carried out his responsibilities as Prime Minister and Finance Minister based on official reports submitted to him.
“He did not sign the cheque, did not manage the accounts. The mistake occurred at the management level, not on him,” he stressed.
Today also marks the close of the defence’s final arguments after 10 days of proceedings that began on October 21.
Last week, the judge set November 4 (today) for the defence to close its case after the prosecution concluded on October 29.
The defence was led by Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah with Tania Scivetti and Wan Azwan Aiman Wan Fakhruddin, while the prosecution was led by Datuk Ahmad Akram Gharib, Datuk Kamal Baharin Omar, Mohamad Mustaffa P. Kunyalam and T. Deepa Nair.
Previously, on May 6, the defence closed its case after calling 26 witnesses over the course of the 58-day trial.
In total, this high-profile trial has run for 293 days, with 50 prosecution witnesses and 26 defence witnesses giving evidence.
Najib, who is also the former Member of Parliament for Pekan, was charged on September 20, 2018, with the trial starting on August 28, 2019, involving four counts of abuse of power involving RM2.3 billion in 1MDB funds and 21 counts of money laundering.
Among the key witnesses called were Tan Sri Mohd Bakke Salleh, Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi, Tan Sri Dr. Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Jasmine Loo Ai Swan, Tengku Datuk Rahimah Putri Almarhum Sultan Mahmud and Roger Ng Chong Hwa from Goldman Sachs. – November 4, 2025
