In his witness statement, Najib said actions by the Democratic-led US administration in 2015 were part of a coordinated effort to undermine Malaysian sovereignty and orchestrate regime change.
“This interference is not speculation but well documented,” Shafee told a press conference at the Kuala Lumpur court complex here.
Shafee also said Najib’s witness statement this morning had cited a leaked 2016 document linked to billionaire George Soros’s Open Society Foundations, purportedly outlining a strategy to destabilise the Malaysian government.
This strategy allegedly included the initiation of a civil forfeiture process in 2016 to recover assets said to have been misappropriated from 1MDB.
Shafee said the US department of justice’s (DoJ) handling of the matter was designed to create a narrative of guilt against Najib without the presentation of evidence in court.
This approach mirrored the tactics used by the DoJ against Donald Trump, with politically charged investigations amplified by aggressive media narratives, he added.
“The parallels are striking: both Najib and Trump faced relentless campaigns from the DoJ, weaponised to serve political agendas under the guise of legal proceedings,” Shafee said.
He added that Alex, the son of George Soros, had further fuelled the smear campaign against Najib by producing a “one-sided documentary” on 1MDB, released globally to perpetuate a narrative of guilt without trial.
“This media manipulation forms part of a broader agenda to influence international opinion and destabilise Malaysia’s leadership,” he said.
He said the fallout of these actions was clear, as Malaysia had experienced unprecedented political instability, with four prime ministers in just four years post-2018.
He said Najib’s defence was not just about clearing his name. “It is a stand against the erosion of Malaysia’s sovereignty by external forces.”
Najib took the witness stand last week to defend himself against 25 charges of abuse of power and money laundering involving 1MDB funds.
The former prime minister is standing trial on four counts of abuse of power and 21 of money laundering involving RM2.28 billion in 1MDB funds deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.