PUTRAJAYA, Jan 22 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak today said he had “gargantuan” or huge tasks every day and was too busy as prime minister of Malaysia to scrutinise 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) matters, and that was why he had to rely on others such as the 1MDB board and management to do the right thing.
Testifying in his trial over 1MDB’s RM2 billion which were alleged to have entered his private bank accounts, Najib said he was not aware in the past that he was being misled by Low Taek Jho, 1MDB’s management and other individuals.
When his own defence lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said the prosecution had allegedly suggested that he could “micromanage” 1MDB, Najib chuckled before dismissing this idea.
“I think he doesn’t understand the nature and role of a prime minister, that you have to manage the entire country. The entire country is not 1MDB, the entire country is much, much larger than that,” he said.
In this trial, Najib is accused of having abused his powers as prime minister, finance minister and 1MDB’s board of advisers’ chairman, and is also accused of money laundering. The Finance Ministry was the sole shareholder of 1MDB, and Najib as the shareholder’s representative had signed documents approving 1MDB decisions.
Earlier, Shafee asked Najib about the prosecution’s suggestion that he was well-equipped to make informed decisions, and what Najib had meant when he had said it depends on the quality and advice given to him.
Najib replied that when someone is at the top of the government or any organisation, they would have to depend on others to do the work and gather the facts to offer options to this leader.
“Provided that the options were made in good faith and they did it with the best interests of the country or the particular organisation, then you are in an ideal position to make an informed decision. But if the advice is tailored or misled, then you could make the wrong decision, that’s what I mean,” he said.
Shafee also asked Najib about the prosecution’s suggestion that he would be well-equipped as prime minister and finance minister to make a detailed analysis of what the 1MDB management represented to him.
But Najib disagreed: “No, because as prime minister, you have so much things to do on your plate, you know. I mean I don’t have one, two labels on the scope of areas of responsibilities as prime minister, but there are simply gargantuan tasks on a daily basis, and sometimes there are crises that happen from time to time like MH17, MH370, Lahad Datu, etc.”
Najib listed down all his additional responsibilities as prime minister then, including overseeing Petronas, as chairman of Khazanah Nasional Berhad, as chairman of Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB), chairing Cabinet meetings, attending summits and international forums, bilateral visits.
“So really, even if you are equipped, you just cannot have the time to do it,” he said.
Contrasting his experience as chairman of Khazanah and PNB, Najib said: “Both organisations, we didn’t encounter the problems we did with 1MDB, you see, so in other words, if the board and management does things correctly and with the best interests of their respective organisation, then the organisation will do well and they won’t encounter the same kind of problems we did with 1MDB.”
Shafee also noted the prosecution’s suggestion that Najib would be highly skilled in sifting or knowing what is the truth based on his vast experience, and asked Najib about his previous court testimony that the government cannot get it 100 per cent right.
Najib explained that even an intelligent person could be misled: “It depends on the quality of advice that you get, but if you are misinformed, it doesn’t matter whether you are intelligent or competent or somebody less like that, but you can be misled.”
Disagreeing that it would be extremely difficult for him to be misled, Najib said: “I disagree because first of all, as prime minister, you are involved in so many, many millions of things, and on a daily basis.
“Number two, as I mentioned to you, even in the case of Goldman Sachs, the top management were misled, so it can happen to anyone, you know. Because you are so involved in so many things, you have to depend on the people managing the system and doing the right things, that’s what I meant.
“It’s impossible for one person to know everything, you have to depend on the system you see, if the system fails you, then you will get the kind of problems that we encountered,” Najib said, later adding that he had to trust the 1MDB board and management and could not do the right thing if they did not give him the right picture.
Najib today also tried to justify his previous claim in court of having “never set foot” in 1MDB’s office, and tried to explain why the prosecution’s photographs showing him officiating the 1MDB office do not mean he had contradicted his own court testimony.
“The photograph shows clearly a ribbon-cutting PR ceremony. When I said I didn’t set foot, that was in relation to the charges. I was thinking in relation to the charges, because the charges alleged I was at 1MDB’s office,” he said.
“So what I’m saying is I was never there for taking part in the alleged charges against me, and they have not shown any proof I was there; otherwise, they would have. Because they showed the proof about the PR ceremony, but there’s nothing else,” he claimed.
Najib’s 1MDB trial before judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah resumes this afternoon.
