Armed with a whopping 528-page written witness statement in English, Najib Razak was confident his fairy tales could convince High Court Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah of his innocence. But after having spent eight days reading his lies, which was written by his lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, the former Malaysian Prime Minister was not satisfied.
So, the world’s biggest crook reads an additional 147-page statement on December 13, also written in English. What happened to the Malay language which he and his Malay nationalist party UMNO used to champion? His tactic is to blame everyone except himself after he was ordered to enter his defence on all 25 charges of abuse of power and money laundering involving 1MDB scandal.
The climax was his hilarious conspiracy theory that the United States – the Department of Justice (DoJ) and even the Democrat government – was plotting, conspiring, colluding and whatnot with then-Opposition coalition, Pakatan Harapan, to topple his government. The imprisoned 71-year-old Najib claimed the DoJ was creating a false narrative that prejudiced public opinion and caused premature judgment of his guilt.
The U.S. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch announced on July 20, 2016 the filing of civil forfeiture complaints seeking the forfeiture and recovery of more than US$1 billion in assets associated with an international conspiracy to launder funds misappropriated from 1MDB. It was this announcement that Najib has blamed for creating a false perception that he was a crook.
Lynch said – “The Department of Justice will not allow the American financial system to be used as a conduit for corruption. With this action, we are seeking to forfeit and recover funds that were intended to grow the Malaysian economy and support the Malaysian people. Instead, they were stolen, laundered through American financial institutions and used to enrich a few officials and their associates.”
Subsequently, the Justice Department 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. But it was not Loretta Lynch, the U.S. Attorney General from 2015 to 2017, who had labelled Najib as the world’s biggest crook.
The person who did that was Lynch’s successor, Jeff Sessions, who called the 1MDB sovereign wealth fund “kleptocracy at its worst” on Dec 5, 2017. Speaking in Washington at the Global Forum on Asset Recovery, A.G. Sessions revealed that the U.S. had seized US$3.5 billion tied to corruption, of which nearly half was from US-DoJ lawsuits connected to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
Mr Najib should get his story right before making a fool of himself. Lynch was appointed by former President Barack Obama (a Democrat), whilst Sessions was appointed by former President Donald Trump (a Republican). But Obama was Najib’s golf buddy, where both were happily golfing on Dec 24, 2014, in Hawaii – when Malaysia was plagued with its worst flooding.
Exactly how could Obama, serving as 44th President of the United States from 2009 to 2017, sabotages Najib when he was the first serving U.S. president to visit Malaysia since Lyndon Johnson in 1966? In fact, Najib was so excited and proud of Obama’s visit in April 2014 that they took not only “selfie”, but the Malaysian PM also bragged about his ride in the POTUS’ official limousine, nicknamed “The Beast”.
Why was Najib such a coward that he blamed Loretta Lynch, DoJ and Democrat without mentioning Barack Obama? Crucially, why Najib has no balls to blame Jeff Sessions or Donald Trump? That’s because the Democrats had just lost the 2024 Election, and the vengeful President-Elect Trump could retaliate unpredictably against scumbag Najib Razak.
Blaming foreign forces like the DoJ and Democrats was merely a smoke screen to hide the fact that he had stolen money. Diverting attention, Najib has been foaming at the mouth in the High Court that the U.S. and Pakatan Harapan had collaborated and orchestrated to stop him from procuring documents involving the 1MDB-related trial in New York involving ex-Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng.
Najib argued that Goldman Sachs and the investment bank’s former Southeast Asia head Timothy Leissner were in possession of “exculpatory evidence” in favour of him. He also claimed that he had hired lawyers in the U.S. at his own expense to obtain this evidence, and had made several petitions to the U.S. courts in 2021. According to Najib, the US-DoJ had denied his application.
However, the U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, most likely sick and tired of the lies spread by Najib, has finally retaliated. The U.S. lectured Najib that the U.S. judiciary is not only independent of political influence, but the Department of Justice (DoJ) had done a thorough investigation in 1MDB scandal in regards to Najib’s involvement in corruption and money laundering.
Mocking Najib, the U.S. Embassy said – “1MDB funds were laundered globally, including through major financial institutions in the U.S. Switzerland, Singapore and Luxembourg, among others”. More importantly, the embassy has exposed that it was Najib who withdrew the request for the evidence on April 21, 2022, the same evidence which Najib claimed the U.S. was suppressing.
Now, why did crooked Najib chicken out from demanding for the evidence, which he has been telling all and sundry could prove his innocence? That’s because the so-called evidence would implicate him instead. Worse, it would destroy everything that the defence team had written in the 528-page witness statements which Najib hoped could hoodwink Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah.
At the trial of ex-Goldman banker Roger Ng Chong Hwa in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent Eric Van Dorn had confirmed once again that the Saudi donations did not exist at all. The FBI agent testified that not only Jho Low had stolen US$1.42 billion (RM6 billion), Najib Razak similarly stole US$756 million (RM3.2 billion).
Najib’s stepson, Riza Aziz, on the other hand, pocketed US$238 million (RM1 billion). The FBI also revealed that Khadem al-Qubaisi, a former managing director of Abu Dhabi’s state-owned International Petroleum Investment Co., which guaranteed the 1MDB transactions, received US$472.8 million (RM2 billion). Another Abu Dhabi official received US$76.6 million (RM320 million).
A forensic accountant for the FBI, Eric Van Dorn said he reviewed a staggering 59,000 bank records to establish the money trail, determining where the money raised from 1MDB bonds went. It means close to 40% of US$6.5 billion raised from three bonds that Goldman Sachs arranged for the Malaysian wealth fund had been stolen by Najib, his stepson and Jho Low alone.
Van Dorn’s testimony was the first time the U.S. authorities have detailed how those involved in the 1MDB deals were paid and how much they received. The FBI agent also revealed how Riza Aziz invested at least US$60 million of the 1MDB money he stole to produce “The Wolf of Wall Street”. However, Najib’s stepson had reached two settlements with the U.S. Justice Department.
In September 2017, Red Granite Pictures, the production company behind the “The Wolf of Wall Street” and “Dumb and Dumber To”, agreed to pay the U.S. government US$60 million to settle a civil forfeiture claim that the films were funded by money siphoned from 1MDB. Red Granite was co-founded in 2010 by Riza Aziz and Joey McFarland.
In 2020, Riza reached another agreement to surrender US$108 million in assets, included properties in the US and the UK – a Beverly Hills bungalow, a New York apartment, and a town house in London – as well as cash. The FBI also told the court that Roger Ng reaped US$35.1 million from two of the three bond sales, while Tim Leissner received US$73.4 million during the scheme.
Leissner, the former chief of Goldman Sachs’ Southeast Asia operation, has previously exposed more dirty backroom and bedroom deals – sex, bribes and blackmail – during his testimony in the U.S. federal court in the ongoing 1MDB trial of Roger Ng, Goldman’s Malaysian head of investment banking and the only Goldman banker to go on trial over the epic looting
While 52-year-old Leissner pleaded guilty in August 2018 to conspiring to violate U.S. anti-bribery laws and money laundering, Ng has pleaded not guilty to helping launder millions of dollars looted from 1MDB. Ng’s lawyer said he is a “fall guy” for one of the biggest financial scandals in Wall Street history, as Leissner testifies as a government witness against Ng.
In 2019, Khadem al-Qubaisi, a United Arab Emirates citizen, was sentenced in Abu Dhabi to 15 years in prison. Mohammed Badawy al-Husseiny, a U.S. citizen who ran a subsidiary of IPIC, was sentenced to 10 years. Both crooks were also ordered to repay US$336 million. In an interview behind the prison, Khadem claimed he was made a “scapegoat” for the UAE’s role in the 1MDB scandal.
However, the scope of the looting could be much wider. The FBI agent said his testimony was based only on certain transactions traceable back to Goldman Sach’s funding of the three bond deals. The scandal involved global investigation across three continents, where money was spent on high-end property, luxury goods and lavish holidays and parties involving Najib, his family and Jho Low.
The FBI testimony, however, was not the first proof that erased Najib’s claims that the money discovered in his bank was donations. In fact, this is the third time that the U.S. authorities have rubbished Najib’s tales. In 2019, documents released by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said Najib Razak has been identified as the person who had received kickbacks from bonds issued by 1MDB.
The documents released were in relation to the SEC’s settlement with former Goldman Sachs Group Inc executive Tim Leissner. In detailing the background of the case, the SEC said that Leissner had helped to raise US$6.5 billion (RM26.9 billion) for 1MDB under the guise of supporting projects meant to benefit Malaysians. But the money raised didn’t go to the people of Malaysia.
The commission said – “Leissner and others instead planned and executed a scheme to misappropriate more than US$2.7 billion and distribute the money as bribes and kickbacks to government officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi. Including but not limited to Najib as well as to other participants in the scheme and their families, including Leissner.”
The U.S. Securities Commission agreed with the U.S. prosecutors, saying – “Leissner also knew at the time that Najib Razak and government officials from Abu Dhabi and 1MDB officials would receive money from the proceeds of Project Maximus that passed through various shell companies beneficially owned and controlled by himself, Low and others.”
The three bond sales for 1MDB were code-named Project Magnolia, Maximus and Catalyze. Under “Project Maximus”, the second bonds issued by 1MDB in 2012, known as Aabar BVI phase, Najib received US$30 million. But the juiciest kickbacks came from the “Project Catalyze” (Tanore phase) in 2013 when the disgraced ex-PM received a further US$681 million misappropriated from 1MDB.
It was also during the “Project Catalyze” that kickbacks, including “transferring approximately US$1.3 million (RM5.38 million) to the account of a New York jeweller to pay for jewellery for the wife of Najib” happened. This is in reference to 27 different 18-carat gold necklaces and bracelets Jho Low had bought for Rosmah Mansor from the 1MDB money siphoned.
Despite Najib’s pretence to claim ignorance, the U.S. SEC has pointed out that upon 1MDB’s formation, Najib assumed a position of authority in 1MDB, and had the authority to approve all appointments and removals in 1MDB’s board of directors and 1MDB’s senior management team. He knew exactly what he was doing – until he is put on trial.
On top of that, Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Adel Ahmed Al-Jubeir confirmed in October 2018 that the RM2.6 billion donations had nothing to do with the kingdom’s government. In Najib’s recent appeal, all the judges also found that the so-called letters from one Prince Saud Abdulaziz Al-Saud on behalf of the King of Saudi Arabia were so faked that the letters clearly show that they are nothing but a fabrication.
Najib argued in the High Court that he was clean because neither the Saudi Arabian Royal Household nor its government has ever issued an official statement to refute that the funds he received in his bank account were a donation. But neither has the kingdom officially acknowledged the dubious donation. It’s very simple. What Najib needed to do is to get Saudi Prince Abdul Aziz Al-Saud appears as his witness.
Other Articles That May Interest You …
- Judicial vs. Executive – Crooked Najib Fails To Walk Free In 1MDB Corruption Charges Despite Support From PM Anwar
- 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
December 16th, 2024 by financetwitter
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