Najib: US DoJ could’ve asked me about 1MDB before launching ‘unprecedented’ 2016 action against sitting leader

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 13 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the US’s Department of Justice (DoJ) should have asked him about allegations on 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), instead of launching its civil action in 2016 to recover 1MDB funds when he was still the prime minister of Malaysia.

Testifying in his 1MDB trial in the Malaysian courts here, Najib accused the US DoJ of making an unprecedented move to file and publicise its civil forfeiture action on 1MDB, and said it caused the public to prejudge his guilt in the 1MDB matter.

“Yang Arif, I would also like to add that when I said it was unprecedented, unprecedented in the sense that the DoJ never takes action of such nature against a sitting head of government. They had never done it, but in my case, they made an exception.

“What they should have done is they could have engaged with me, and I could have responded to them,” Najib told the High Court.

He added that the US could have used the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 2002 (Macma), and said Malaysia could have responded to any allegations that concerns the US on the possible wrongdoings in the 1MDB case.

“Until today, I have never been charged in the US, until today, no charges levelled against me. As I told the court earlier, there was evidence — that will exculpate me — available, but the DoJ has locked it. So I think I’m right to say that the actions by the DoJ have been politically motivated,” he claimed.

When asked by his lead defence lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah on which US government was in place when the DoJ’s 1MDB action was taken, Najib claimed: “It was under the Democrat government and we know Soros had a big influence on the then Democrat government. As we are talking now, there is a big movement in Washington to overhaul the DoJ because they believe the DoJ has been weaponised for political reasons.”

Earlier, Najib described the DoJ’s actions of filing the 1MDB forfeiture action as allegedly “irregular” and “deeply troubling”, given its own disclaimer that a civil forfeiture complaint is only an allegation of money being involved in or being proceeds of a crime and that such allegations are not proven until a court rules in favour of the US.

“However, the way the DoJ publicized the civil forfeiture action gave the impression that the allegations were established facts, creating a false narrative that prejudiced public opinion and caused premature judgment of my culpability.

“Even Loretta Lynch labelled it ‘the largest kleptocracy case to date’, hinting at my alleged involvement without due process or evidence,” Najib claimed, referring to then attorney general Loretta Lynch.

“Yang Arif, as we all know, perception is everything in politics, it’s even greater than the actual truth,” he said.

He claimed that sensationalised narratives were used to create a presumption of guilt against him before any court proceedings on the 1MDB matter.

On July 20, 2016, then US attorney general Lynch announced the US filing of civil forfeiture complaints — involving over US$3.5 billion allegedly stolen from 1MDB — to recover over US$1 billion assets associated with an international conspiracy launder 1MDB funds. Lynch was US attorney general during the 2015 to 2017 period.

Najib denies ignoring 1MDB allegations, failing to take action

Today, Najib responded to allegations that his lack of action as then prime minister against Low Taek Jho suggested that he was part of the latter’s scheme to misappropriate funds from 1MDB.

Najib also responded to allegations that his court testimony of being unsuspecting of Low’s alleged illegal acts was just a “mere denial”, since he allegedly did not take action then on the 1MDB matter.

But Najib denied he had not taken actions on the 1MDB scandal as the prime minister then, but claimed he was just acting tactfully. He was PM from 2009 to 2018.

“Nevertheless, it is incorrect to say that I did not take any actions in so far as the alleged mismanagement at 1MDB, I did take action but just not in the rash and impetuous ways as others might take,” he said.

“I was still the prime minister at that time and the far-reaching blowback of a misstep occupies the forefront of my mind,” he said, noting that the allegations involved the sovereign wealth fund of one of Malaysia’s biggest Middle East trading partners and one of the major global investment bank Goldman Sachs.

He said it would also cause the reputation of Malaysia’s other government-linked companies — instead of just 1MDB — to be questioned, “if the matter was not dealt with skill and sensitivity”.

“So, from my perspective and given the above considerations, it is unfair to accuse me of failure to act when, in reality, I dealt with the matter with the utmost tact as the prime minister,” he said, adding that it was important to ensure any action was taken based on “verified evidence and not mere speculation or tabloid reporting” to avoid serious repercussions locally and internationally.

“I, for one, do not think that anyone should be condemned without proper investigation,” he said.

Najib also claimed that he did not ignore or dismiss allegations made about 1MDB.

He noted that the police had begun probing 1MDB in December 2014 and raided 1MDB’s offices by 2015, and said the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had recorded Low’s statement.

Najib said he had directed the Cabinet to give the mandate to the auditor-general to look into 1MDB’s accounts and those finds were given to Parliament’s bipartisan Public Accounts Committee, and said such actions took place before the US DoJ’s civil forfeiture action.

“If I was inclined to shield anyone or conceal anything, why would I encourage investigations into the matter and enable a bipartisan committee, inclusive of my critics, to scrutinise the matter? The suggestion that my lack of action against Jho Low at the time indicates my complicity is unfounded,” he said.

Claiming that none of the 50 prosecution witnesses in the 1MDB trial have said he stopped investigations on Low in 1MDB or stopped efforts to locate him, Najib today asked what the current Malaysian government has done to find Low or to recover the billions of dollars plundered from 1MDB.

After having spent eight days reading his 528-page written witness statement in English and also spending today reading his additional 147-page witness statement in English, Najib today chose to answer one of Shafee’s questions in the Malay language.

Asked to share his thoughts on the alleged injustices he had faced based on his claim that the 1MDB trial against him amounts to a “politically-motivated” prosecution, Najib accused several prosecution witnesses as having lied in court to implicate him and also accused the prosecution and investigators of being biased.

Najib however declared he will not take “revenge” on those who had allegedly planned the purported injustice against him, and said they would face divine judgment.

In his lengthy answer in Malay, Najib said he too has the right to get justice, and questioned why he has been denied the opportunity to get justice.

Najib’s 1MDB trial is scheduled to resume on January 6 next year.