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KUALA LUMPUR: Former Prime Minister Najib Razak seeks to force the government to provide bank documents belonging to companies controlled by Low Taek Jho and the family of Zeti Akhtar Aziz.
In a request for the documents, he said they were crucial to his defense of 1MDB and that the government had not made them available to his attorneys before his case began.
“It is essential for my defense and for a fair decision in this case, (as well as) that the witnesses are subsequently summoned,” he said.
Najib is on trial on 25 charges of abuse of power and money laundering for alleged 1MDB funds in the amount of RM2.28 billion deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.
Among the documents it requested from the government were bank statements of Aktis Capital Singapore Pte Ltd, Country Group Securities Public Company Ltd, ACME Time Ltd (BVI), Butamba Investments Ltd and Central Holdings Ltd. These companies were related to Low, also known as Jho Low.
Other bank accounts sought by him were those of Iron Rhapsody Ltd, Cutting Edge Industries Ltd, as well as those of Shearman and Sterling LLC.
In addition to the bank account statements, Najib wants the government to present documents from all the companies mentioned.
“I declare that the deletion of bank documents has the effect of misinterpreting the truth and is a violation of my fundamental rights,” he said.
Najib also claimed that it was reported in the media that the bank documents of Iron Rhapsody and Cutting Edge Industries were made available to Bank Negara Malaysia. These companies were controlled by Zeti’s husband, Tawfiq Ayman, and his sons Alif and Aziz.
“It was reported that the Singapore government said it delivered the relevant documents to our government,” he said.
He said that Tawfiq, Alif and Aziz were reported to have signed legal statements (SD) to waive their claims on funds at Iron Rhapsody and Cutting Edge Industries.
Najib also attached a letter dated January 19 from a law firm that executed Tawfiq and his children’s SDs.
The company in response confirmed that the SDs were in its possession, but said they played no role in “preparation and subsequent use.”
“The Bukit Aman Commercial Crimes Department has issued a statement saying that they are investigating Tawfiq for alleged money laundering,” he said.
Police confirmed that they were investigating Tawfiq for 1MDB-related funds allegedly transferred to a bank account he owned in Singapore.
The High Court today set as a mention Najib’s request to obtain the documents.
Deputy Prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib said that the prosecution received the request today.
The MalaysiaToday portal, run by blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin, had claimed that Tawfiq, Alif and Aziz received more than RM100 million in funding from Low.
Najib had also urged Zeti to speak out against the allegations, citing that she issued a statement in May 2018 stating that she was unaware of the existence of funds or transactions in her bank accounts.
In response, Zeti had denied the allegations and said she could not comment further as she was a potential witness in Najib’s 1MDB trial.
