Shafee Abdullah said Zeti, who testified on behalf of the prosecution, wanted to protect her reputation as her family was implicated in the alleged receipt of funds from fugitive financier Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low.
“She was a witness with vested interests who would lie to protect her reputation and shield her family from criminal charges.
“Her testimony should be treated with caution – given that her husband and children received funds from Jho Low related companies.”
Zeti had testified last year that her family had never received funds from 1MDB.
She added her husband, Tawfiq Ayman, was the person who reported a “suspicious” transaction involving his company’s bank account to a Singapore bank.
Later, Shafee’s co-counsel, Wan Azwan Aiman Wan Fakhruddin, said the testimony of four former 1MDB management members against the former prime minister lacked credibility.
Wan Azwan said two former 1MDB CEOs, Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi and Hazem Abdul Rahman, as well as former chief financial officer Azmi Tahir and general counsel Loo Ai Swan, gave “biased” evidence to escape prosecution for allegedly misappropriating 1MDB funds.
“Shahrol was taking instructions from Jho Low despite being employed by TIA (Terengganu Investment Authority, later 1MDB), and contributed to the misappropriation of funds while Hazem took deliberate action to conceal 1MDB’s ‘financial losses’ from (auditors) KPMG,” he said in submissions at the close of the prosecution’s case.
Wan Azwan said Azmi, who was supposed to safeguard the company’s finances, had assisted in transferring over US$790 million to a shell company, Aabar Investment PJS Limited, without approval from the board of directors.
“As for Jasmine (Loo), she was described as Jho Low’s proxy by Azmi and Hazem, and drafted documents in misappropriating funds.
“She also acquired substantial funds from Jho Low between 2011 and 2014, which she claimed were part of some investment agreement,” he added.
Wan Azwan also said former 1MDB director Ismee Ismail failed to take action to curb mismanagement in the company – despite serving on the board for over seven years.
“He tried to find a way out, (relying) on the fact that he was incompetent.”
Wan Azwan also argued that former 1MDB chairman Bakke Salleh failed to lodge a report against Shahrol for remitting a sum of US$700 million to an unknown firm.
Najib is charged with 25 counts of money laundering and abuse of power over alleged 1MDB funds amounting to RM2.28 billion deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.
The hearing continues before Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah.