Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah had refused to be made a fool by the political circus in the country as the executive branch was piling pressure on the judiciary to free disgraced former Prime Minister Najib Razak. On the eve of Hindu festival of lights Divali, also known as Deepavali, the High Court ordered Mr Najib to defend himself against 25 charges over the infamous multi-billion dollar 1MDB scandal.

 

The judge crushed the hope of a crowd of supporters of the former United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) president when he declared his decision after determining that the prosecution had successfully established a “prima facie” case – a term used to describe a case with enough proof to proceed to trial or judgment. And it’s not hard to understand why the defence was “extremely disappointed”.

 

It means the prosecutors had established a case for 4 charges of abuse of power and 21 charges of money laundering for misappropriating RM2.3 billion from 1MDB. With prima facie established against Najib, the burden of proof has been shifted from the prosecution to the defence. The burden of proof on the prosecution team is over after successfully established the fact beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty.

Essentially, the defence lawyers must prove that Najib is innocent whilst the prosecution needs to do nothing. The former premier must prove he did not use his position to elicit the bribes or to launder the money, which was deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014, failing which he will face up to 20 years in prison and fines up to five times the amount of funds involved in the offence.

 

Najib’s self-proclaimed hotshot lawyer, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, was so shocked and surprised at the High Court’s decision that he whined, moaned and bitched that he didn’t even win on a single point – not a “shred of cotton”. This former UMNO lawyer,who had previously won many cases when UMNO was in power, still hadn’t a clue that he can no longer bribe and intimidate his way through the judiciary system.

 

After calling 50 witnesses to the stand to testify against the former prime minister, including some high profile witnesses such as former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi, former Bank Negara governor Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz and former 1MDB general counsel Loo Ai Swan, also known as Jasmine Loo, Judge Collin said the charges filed against Najib were valid and correct in law and found all prosecution witnesses to be credible.

While Najib maintains he had no knowledge of any illegal transfers from the state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), claiming he was misled by others and believed that monies transferred into his personal bank accounts were political donations from the Saudi royal family, the judge was neither convinced nor impressed with the laughable story.

 

The High Court judge has actually mocked Najib as “wilfully blind” for failing to inquire about the origins of the funds deposited into his account, considering the enormous amount of US$681 million (RM2.6 billion back in 2015). The reason why the word wilfully was used is also the reason why the judge said he did not find Najib had been “scammed”, as the crook hopes everyone would believe.

 

As a start, Najib can’t explain why he did not give any instructions to lodge any reports with the authorities and banks as early as 2015, when the financial scandal first exposed, exploded and received massive publicity. Crucially, the judge took offence that Najib did not find it necessary to lodge any police report despite the ex-PM’s dubious claim that he had been misled or scammed.

As SRC International (a subsidiary of 1MDB) trial showed, he didn’t make a single complaint from 2011 to 2015 to the bank about any irregularities. Ambank also confirmed only Najib can sign all cheques. He claimed to be “shocked and upset” when he was told that millions had been banked into his personal bank accounts. However, he refused to lodge a report either with the police or the MACC.

 

Najib had even modified the Constitution of SRC International to make himself the “adviser emeritus”. Crucially, Najib agreed with the money trail that showed the flow of the RM42 million from SRC into the former premier’s personal bank account. He had spent all the money instead of lodging police reports, despite his hilarious claim that he had no idea who gave him the money. 

 

Worse, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has nine recordings which showed that there were attempts to cover up the 1MDB issues by Najib and his associates. Instead of throwing Jho Low under the bus, the same fugitive businessman whom Najib is now claiming to be the mastermind who had scammed him, Najib’s partner-in-crime Jho Low had received protection instead.

The U.S.-DOJ investigation results say that over US$4.5 billion was misappropriated from the 1MDB fund, with some of the money used to buy the private jet, a super yacht, Picasso paintings, jewellery and real estate. Not only Najib appointed himself chairman of the board of advisers of 1MDB, he also paid himself RM120,000 per year as allowances – on top of plundering the US$4.5 billion (RM19.7 billion).

 

But the biggest reason why the overrated attorney Shafee and Najib were incredibly shocked with the High Court’s decision on Oct 30 (yesterday) was due to a secret deal that Najib was supposed to walk away a free man after a “rare public apology” last week for his role in mishandling the 1MDB scandal – interpreted as a softener for an acquittal by Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah.

 

Najib’s apology – his first since he was arrested and charged in July 2018 – came just days after Malaysian government under Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said it would introduce a law allowing house arrest for some offences. The hastily and prematurely announcement made while presenting the Budget 2025 has raised suspicion that power-hungry Anwar desperately wanted to free Najib to ensure UMNO’s continuous support.

However, in order for a house arrest to be rewarded to Najib, his 25 charges over the 1MDB corruption and money laundering should be dismissed before the Deepavali. It would leave Anwar in a precarious position to proceed with the house arrest law, which clearly will be designed with some loopholes specifically to cater for the crook, while at the same time Najib has to defend himself in the court.

 

Unless Anwar is a genius master strategist and a better actor than Clint Eastwood, the latest decision by Justice Collin could be the beginning of a clash between the Executive and Judicial pillars, something that is healthy to ensure separation of powers. However, it also means a slap in the face of the prime minister as the leader in the executive branch of the government.

 

Heck, the seeming independence of the Judicial is also a slap in the face of the previous King Sultan Abdullah of Pahang, who had bulldozed a partial royal pardon and even a controversial illegal house arrest for Najib due to his Pahang nobleman title. Born into power and wealth in Malaysia’s Pahang state, not many knew that Najib’s maternal grandfather was an investor in Malaysia’s first casino – Genting Highland.

When Sultan Abdullah chaired the Pardons Board and reduced Najib’s jail sentence from 12 to six years, with 75% discount thrown in for his RM210 million fines, at the eleventh hour before the Pahang monarch ended his 5-year reign as the nation’s 16th Agong (King) on January 30, 2024, it was seen by many insiders as a mockery and insult to the judiciary system.

 

After all, it was the Court of Appeal on Dec 8, 2021 led by Judge Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil who had not only upheld Najib’s conviction, but also laughed and ridiculed at the ex-PM’s claims that he (despite stealing money) was acting in the national interest, calling it a “national embarrassment” instead. How could the sultan pardon a crook that the Judicial branch considered a national humiliation?

 

Led by Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat – the first woman Chief Justice – the judiciary system was attacked by Najib minions when the top judge revealed she received death threats when she chaired the panel of Federal Court judges that heard Najib Razak’s final appeal. But she refused to be intimidated, bravely dismissing the crook’s appeals and sent him to the prison on Aug 23, 2022.

However, the installation of Anwar Ibrahim as the 10th Prime Minister on Nov 25, 2022 has brought only a short period of relief despite high expectation of reforms from the new unity government, formed through an unexpected alliance of Anwar-led Pakatan Harapan coalition and Najib’s UMNO-led Barisan Nasional coalition after the 15th General Election produced a hung parliament.

 

The integrity of the Judicial was challenged when Najib tried to compel the government to produce an addendum order reportedly issued by former King Sultan Abdullah that allows him to serve the rest of his sentence at home.  The High Court threw out his bid in July this year, only for PM Anwar to stunningly betray the people – and the judiciary system – with a house arrest proposal, interpreted as an insult to justice.

 

Like it or not, one of Mahathir’s greatest achievements during his second term as the 7th Prime Minister, even though lasted only 22 months from 2018 to 2020, was the appointment of Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat as the Chief Justice in May 2019, providing a new breath of leadership in the judiciary that appears to be independent from executive’s interference.

More importantly, at 59, Tengku Maimun became the youngest to occupy the position since Suffian Mohamed Hashim who served from 1974 to 1982. With the mandatory retirement age for judges at 66 years old, she will serve till at least 2026 – extendable by 6 months with the consent of the new King Sultan Ibrahim of Johor. Until then, she’s untouchable and the Judicial branch is expected to remain independent.

 

Other Articles That May Interest You …

• Self-proclaimed “Father Of Nation” Anwar Attacks Critics As Stupid – But Anthony Loke Rejects Najib’s Apology
• You Help Me, I Help You – Traitor Anwar Welcomes Crooked Najib’s Apology, Rushing For “Bungalow Arrest” Law
• Jail From Home – Watch How Crooked Najib Checkmate PM Anwar And Walks Away With Backdated Addendum
• 3rd Time U.S. Says “No Saudi Donation” – FBI Confirms Najib Stole RM3.2 Billion, Riza RM1 Billion & Jho Low RM6 Billion
• Sex, Bribes & Blackmail – Najib’s Appeal In Jeopardy After Leissner Exposed More Dirty Deals In 1MDB Scandal
• 12 Years’ Jail & RM210 Million Fine For World’s Biggest Crook Najib – A Result Of Insulting The Judge’s Intelligence
• Day-72 Of SRC Trial: Najib’s Top-8 Lies That Were So Extraordinary They Might Backfire & Incriminate The Crook
• U.S. Securities Commission – No Saudi Donations, Najib Received RM2.6 Billion Kickbacks From 1MDB
• SRC Trial – Here’re 10 Points Any First Year Law Student Can Use To Nail Najib & Send The Crook To Jail
• Crooked Najib Going Bust!! – It Would Take Him 1,766 Years To Pay RM1.69 Billion In Taxes
• Congrats Billionaire Najib!! – The Crook Evades RM1.5 Billion In Taxes On Income Of RM4 Billion In 2011-2017

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October 31st, 2024 by financetwitter

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