Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah, reading out his verdict, noted, however, that no reports were filed either with the police or the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission against Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, a key figure in the 1MDB saga.
Neither were reports lodged in connection with Najib’s claims that certain individuals had “forged” his signature on documents linked to the fund, the judge said.
Sequerah also noted that a task force investigating 1MDB, comprising senior officers from the Attorney-General’s Chambers, the police, MACC, and Bank Negara Malaysia, was set up in 2015.
The task force was later reportedly disbanded.
Najib had previously testified that he did not disband this task force, saying instead that it was an “administrative decision” communicated at the “appropriate institutional level”.
Sequerah found that it was Najib who “took action” to disband the group.
The court noted that in the same year, then attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail, along with MACC chief commissioner Abu Kassim Mohamed and his deputies were removed from office.
“The accused person (Najib) had also asked (BNM governor) Tan Sri Zeti (Akhtar Aziz) to issue a media statement clearing him of wrongdoings in relation to activities in his bank accounts.
“The above clearly shows a moment of passing interest in the affairs of 1MDB and serves to highlight the extent of the steps of action that he took in order to protect and consolidate this interest.
“It forms an inference that he took various forms of action – sometimes drastic – in relation to matters involving 1MDB in which he undoubtedly had interest,” he said.
Jho Low the ‘middleman’, court finds
The court also found that Low acted as an intermediary between the 1MDB management team and Najib although he held no official position in the company.
Sequerah said that during the defence stage, Najib sought to distance himself from the Penang businessman, claiming that Low, together with several 1MDB officers, including former CEOs Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi and Hazem Abd Rahman, former chief financial officer Azmi Tahir, and former legal counsel Jasmine Loo, had “conspired” to embezzle funds from the company.
“(Najib’s) contention that he was misled by Low and those officers has no merit,” he said.
Sequerah noted that to this day, 1MDB has not initiated any domestic inquiries against Shahrol or the other former officers, nor have they been subjected to any investigation by the authorities.
“These witnesses were not on trial,” he said.
The court took note of Najib’s extensive background in politics and government.
“He is not a ‘country bumpkin’ but of superior intelligence.
“To paint him as someone unaware of what happened in 1MDB cannot hold water,” Sequerah said.
The judge will deliver his verdict later today.