Ad hoc prosecutor V Sithambaram said Apandi exonerated Najib on Jan 26, 2016, based on findings that the former prime minister did not have knowledge of the offences.
“He was brought in to testify that all of Najib’s actions were in the national interest and that he had no personal interest in SRC,” Sithambaram said in his submission before a three-member bench chaired by Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil.
Apandi, who was appointed attorney-general by Najib in July 2015, had testified in the High Court that he had issued two press releases on instructing the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) investigation into Najib to be closed.
Apandi had said the investigation showed that in August 2013, a sum of US$620 million (RM2.03 billion) was returned by Najib to the Saudi royal family, as the sum had not been utilised.
On SRC International, Apandi had said their investigations concluded that Najib had not committed any criminal offence under either the MACC Act 2009 or the Penal Code.
Sithambaram said that during cross-examination, Apandi had agreed that the decision he made was based on available material in the investigation papers as of January 2016.
“Apandi agreed that he was not aware that 76 new statements were recorded from witnesses relevant to the investigation,” he said.
He said trial Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, after considering Apandi’s evidence, stated that his testimony could not cast any doubt on the prosecution’s case.
The judge had said this was because Apandi had admitted he was not aware of the new evidence available in the investigations and also because Najib had later admitted knowledge of the money entering into his accounts in an affidavit he filed in a defamation suit.
Sithambaram said Apandi also confirmed the two flow charts he held during his press conference in January 2016, which clearly showed the funds of SRC International entering Najib’s bank accounts, were not the “Arab donations”.
“This evidence cast doubt on the integrity of Apandi’s finding that Najib was innocent of the offences that were being investigated by MACC,” he said.
He said it was trite law that the decision of any court was based on evidence produced during trial and not the opinion of any person, including the former attorney-general.
“Nazlan held that MACC may carry on with its investigation even during trial. The court is only concerned with the admissibility of the evidence, not when or how the evidence is obtained,” he said.
Najib, who is the Pekan MP, was accused of abusing his power as the prime minister by giving government guarantees on SRC International’s RM4 billion loan from Retirement Fund Inc.
He was also charged with three counts of criminal breach of trust and three money laundering charges in relation to RM42 million belonging to SRC International, a former unit of 1MDB.
He was sentenced by Nazlan in July last year to 12 years’ jail and a fine of RM210 million after he was found guilty of the seven charges.
The hearing continues.