KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 6 — Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said today the absence of fugitive financier Low Taek Jho or Jho Low in Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s ongoing corruption trials has seen the former prime minister deprived of his “best defence”.

Asked to respond to Straits Times’ published interview with Low, Muhammad Shafee, who is also Najib’s defence lawyer, admitted that it was “cumbersome” to prove Najib’s case in court as Low and his alleged accomplices have absconded.

According to Muhammad Shafee, the accomplices whom Low was acquainted were named as Jasmine Loo, Terrence Geh, Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil and Casey Tang.

“My client isn’t getting the best defence because these people are absent. So is it purposely done to deprive my client of the best defence? These are witnesses my client can use by way of cross examination and prove my client case.

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“I must tell you it is very cumbersome. Our case has always been that Najib being the prime minister was led to believe that Jho Low can open the gates of Saudi, Emirates and even China because of his influence,” he told reporters after Najib’s SRC International Sdn Bhd trial at the High Court here.

Muhammad Shafee also called out Low’s bluff for claiming others played a far bigger role in the financial swindle before labelling the latter the “number one central culprit”.

“I don’t think he is telling the truth. I think he is the central figure who organised everything else around him including the financial institutions, the financial people like bankers and all his cronies who are actually his accomplices.

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“They are in 1MDB, they are in SRC and they are also overseas,” he said.

Muhammad Shafee then pointed out that Low had “conveniently” forgotten to tell the public of his role in misleading SRC International and 1MDB.

He also rubbished Low’s claim that the latter was a convenient scapegoat in the multibillion-dollar global financial scandal by virtue of not being a politician.

“That is totally rubbish because if you are not a politician nobody would want to victimise you.

“It is only politician who gets into trouble because there is a counter-politician who wants to put you in trouble,” he said.

At the same time, Muhammad Shafee also questioned Malaysian authorities and even singled out the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Bador for not going “hard” in their efforts to locate Low.

Last month, Abdul Hamid said he was frustrated with the lack of cooperation from authorities in countries where Low was supposedly hiding.

“Until today the IGP has not made an announcement as to where Jho Low is. Not only Jho Low, where are these four five people I said? Why not go after them? Why not announce where Jho Low is and then name and shame the country who you know where he is and has not responded to our legal request?

“I want to know why Malaysia hasn’t done any request for extradition? They have been talking all the time but do nothing,” he said.

In the interview, Low again portrayed himself as a middleman, albeit one who “worked for the benefit of Malaysia and advanced Malaysia’s Government-to-Government connections with key allies.”

He claimed to have helped build relationships that have “directly or indirectly assisted Malaysia, including helping Malaysians that were stranded during the crisis in Egypt to get safely back home to Malaysia via Saudi Arabia; the increase in Haj quotas for Malaysian Muslims.”

Low also told ST that he had been offered asylum half a year ago but refused to disclose the nation’s name out of “serious personal safety concerns.”