Former 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) CEO Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi today rejected Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s lawyer’s suggestion that he had purportedly made a deal to testify in court in exchange for not being charged.
Najib’s lead defence lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah bluntly said that Shahrol Azral should have been charged over 1MDB affairs, but the latter disagreed.
Shahrol Azral is testifying as the ninth prosecution witness in Najib’s corruption and money-laundering trial involving more than RM2 billion 1MDB funds, with Shafee having spent weeks questioning him.
Shafee today claimed that Najib had lamented that other individuals should have been charged over the 1MDB matter.
“Just as Mr Yeo was complaining in Singapore, my client also complains he also has been charged for two years now, and many — the likes of you, Amhari and a few others, some of course absconded — have not been charged. Amhari has not been charged, my client complains the same things now,” Shafee told the High Court today during Najib’s 1MDB trial.
Shafee was referring to a Singapore trial where former banker Yeo Jiawei had highlighted how two other individuals involved in the same 1MDB-linked matters had not been charged, as well as Najib’s former aide Datuk Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin who had testified as the eighth prosecution witness against Najib.
Shafee went on to suggest that Shahrol Azral should have been one of the first persons to be charged over the 1MDB financial scandal, but Shahrol Azral disagreed.
Shafee: Did you make a deal with the MACC and the prosecution that you will sing like a bird here and you will not be charged?
Shahrol Azral: No.
Shafee went on to suggest that Shahrol Azral had struck a deal to “incriminate” Najib in the 1MDB case to avoid being charged, but Shahrol Azral disagreed.
Asked by Shafee, Shahrol Azral confirmed he had not been sued by 1MDB for negligence.
Among other things, Shafee highlighted excerpts from a February 11, 2016 Public Accounts Committee (PAC) inquiry over 1MDB affairs, including where Kulim-Bandar Baharu MP Datuk Abd Aziz Sheikh Fadzir was quoted as having accused Shahrol Azral of being the “biggest culprit” in the 1MDB affair.
Najib was seen nodding his head in apparent agreement while seated in the accused’s dock when Shafee read the excerpt.
Shafee also highlighted the PAC’s April 7, 2016 report regarding 1MDB, where the bipartisan parliamentary watchdog concluded that it believed that Shahrol Azral as the former 1MDB CEO should take responsibility over the weaknesses and blunders involved and also recommended that law enforcement agencies further investigate Shahrol Azral and others involved in 1MDB’s management.
Today, Shahrol Azral confirmed he was called up for investigations by the police either in late 2016 or in 2017 after the PAC’s 2016 report, but said he was neither arrested nor remanded for police investigations or given a police bail.
Shafee: You were just let go like that?
Shahrol Azral: Yes.
Shafee: But they got your passport?
Shahrol Azral: No.
Shahrol Azral explained that the authorities did not seize his passport at that time, and he was still allowed to travel in and out of the country, noting that overseas travel restrictions were only placed on him from July 2018 until early 2020.
Shahrol Azral said he had found that his name was no longer in the Immigration Department’s travel blacklist when he checked the department’s website, but also confirmed that he has not travelled since his travel ban was lifted.
Shahrol Azral said he did not make any negotiations with the authorities for the travel ban on him to be lifted, noting that he had only told investigators that the travel restrictions makes it difficult for him to seek for a job abroad. Shahrol Azral is currently not working.
About DoJ’s papers and Billion Dollar Whale
Shafee today pressed Shahrol Azral on why the latter had not read the US Department of Justice (DoJ) papers on the 1MDB case which had also cited Shahrol Azral’s alleged role, later even describing Shahrol Azral’s decision to not read as akin to an ostrich putting its head in a hole.
Shafee: Why is it? It baffles me, your reputation is at stake.
Shahrol Azral: Because even if I knew what was happening in DoJ, there is no recourse (for me). It’s my way of managing the stress that I go through everyday.
Shafee, who had at times quoted from the DoJ papers when questioning Shahrol Azral, today also cited the Billion Dollar Whale book detailing events in the 1MDB affair and the role of various individuals such as fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho.
Shafee: You have read the Billion Dollar Whale?
Shahrol Azral: No.
Shafee: Why? Because you want to avoid all these ugly stories?
Shahrol Azral: Ah, just not something that I wanted to read.
Shafee: Is it because you know the content?
Shahrol Azral: I roughly know the content, the authors contacted me for a few times to give comments.
But Shahrol Azral said he did not give comments for the book.
Throughout the trial, Shafee had accused Shahrol Azral of having conspired with Low to carry out schemes that caused 1MDB to lose billions of ringgit but Shahrol Azral has denied this. Shafee had also tried to suggest that Najib as the prime minister and finance minister then could have been hoodwinked or fell for Low’s alleged schemes, but Shahrol Azral had said he could not confirm if this was the case.
The trial before High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah will resume on July 15, with Shafee expected to continue cross-examining Shahrol Azral. – MMO
Earlier reports:
Jun 30, Najib’s 1MDB Trial: Day 36
May 21, Najib’s 1MDB Trial: Day 35
May 21, Najib’s 1MDB Trial: Day 34
May 19, Najib’s 1MDB Trial: Day 33
Nov 11, Najib’s 1MDB Trial: Day 32
Nov 7, Najib’s 1MDB Trial: Day 31
Nov 6, Najib’s 1MDB Trial: Day 30
Nov 5, Najib’s 1MDB Trial: Day 30
Nov 4, Najib’s 1MDB Trial: Day 28
Nov 4, 1MDB Trial: Judge Reprimands Najib After Tg Piai Trip
Oct 31, Najib Calls in Sick with Swollen Eyes, 1MDB Trial Postponed Yet Again
Oct 30, Najib’s 1MDB Trial: Day 27
Oct 29, Najib’s 1MDB Trial: Day 26
Oct 24, Najib’s 1MDB Trial: Day 25
Oct 24, Najib Asks Prosecution to Hand Over Justo’s Information Given to MACC
Oct 21, Najib’s 1MDB Trial: Day 24
Oct 17, Najib’s 1MDB Trial: Day 23
Oct 17, Jho Low Changed 1MDB Constitution to Give Najib Absolute Power
Oct 16, Najib’s 1MDB Trial: Day 22
Oct 14, Najib’s 1MDB Trial: Day 21
Oct 10, Najib’s 1MDB Trial: Day 20
Oct 9, Najib’s 1MDB Trial: Day 19
Oct 8, Najib’s 1MDB Trial: Day 18
Oct 7, Najib’s 1MDB Trial: Day 17
Oct 7, Some Umno People Envious of Jho Low-Najib Ties, Court Told
Oct 1, Najib’s 1MDB Trial: Day 16
Oct 1, Arul Kanda Told Ex-1MDB CEO to Leave Country to Avoid PAC Meeting
Oct 1, Ex-1MDB CEO Paid RM99K Monthly, RM1.5M Bonus
Oct 1, Jho Low Helped Plan Abu Dhabi Crown Prince’s Trip to Sway Voters for GE13
Sept 30, Najib’s 1MDB Trial: Day 15
Sept 30, Witness: Najib Used 1MDB to Raise Funds for GE13
Sept 26, Najib’s 1MDB Trial: Day 14
Sept 26, Jho Low, Tim Leissner Played “Matchmaker” for Najib to Meet Goldman Sachs
Sept 26, US$9M Transferred from Jho Low’s Good Star to Riza Aziz’s Red Granite Pictures
Sept 26, Jho Low, Najib Faked Meeting Minutes to Move US$750M from 1MDB to PSI
Sept 26, Najib Agreed to 1MDB Borrowing RM3B from SOCSO to Lend to PetroSaudi
Sept 25, Najib’s 1MDB Trial: Day 13
Sept 24, Najib’s 1MDB Trial: Day 12
Sept 23, Najib’s 1MDB Trial: Day 11
Sept 19, Najib’s 1MDB Trial: Day 10
Sept 18, Najib’s 1MDB Trial: Day Nine
Sept 18, Najib’s Ex-Aide Led MACC to Raid on Jho Low’s Apartment
Sept 18, Najib’s 1MDB Trial Halted Briefly for Najib to See Eye Specialist
Sept 17, Najib’s 1MDB Trial: Day Eight
Sept 17, Witness Identifies Riza Aziz, Arul Kanda and Five Others as Key Players in 1MDB Saga
Sept 17, Bono, Queen of Jordan, Rosmah Floated as Trustees for TIA
Sept 17, Witness Says 1MDB Najib’s Baby, Defence Claims It Was Terengganu Sultan’s Idea
Sept 11, Najib’s Eye Infection Halts 1MDB Trial
Sept 10, Najib’s 1MDB Trial: Day Six
Sept 10, Rosmah Fond of Jho Low
Sept 10, Najib’s Ex-Aide: Jho Low Provided Scripted Responses to Deny His Involvement in 1MDB
Sept 10, Istana Negara Questioned Jho Low’s Role in 1MDB Predecessor TIA
Sept 5, Najib’s 1MDB Trial: Day Five
Sept 5, 1MDB Trial: Judge Raps Shafee over Najib’s Tardiness
Sept 5, 1MDB Trial: Najib’s Ex-Aide Took US$200K Loan from Jho Low to Buy Property
Sept 5, 1MDB Trial: Najib’s Ex-Aide Accused of Lying
Sept 4, Najib’s 1MDB Trial: Day Four
Sept 4, Najib’s Ex-Aide: Mudabala CEO Was Promised All Sorts of Things
Sept 4, Najib’s Ex-Aide, Jho Low on “Secret China Mission” to Bail Out 1MDB
Sept 4, Jho Low Ordered Najib’s Ex-Aides to Open Overseas Bank Accounts
Sept 3, Najib’s 1MDB Trial: Day Three
Sept 3, Najib’s Ex-Aide: Jho Low Drew Out Wealth Fund Concept on Kitchen Whiteboard
Sept 3, Jho Low Gave Possibly Forged Letters from Saudi Arabia to Stop 1MDB Probe
Sept 3, Only Najib and Jho Low Knew “Full Picture” of 1MDB Plan
Sept 3, Jho Low in Najib’s Inner Circle
Aug 29, Najib’s 1MDB Trial: Day Two
Aug 28, Najib’s 1MDB Trial: Day One
Aug 28, Shafee: Prove Najib Knew Arab Donation Letter Faked, Jho Low Is Najib’s Alter Ego
Aug 28, Najib’s 1MDB Trial: Shafee Again Questions Sri Ram’s Appointment
Aug 28, Najib’s 1MDB Trial: Gopal Sri Ram’s Full Opening Statement
Aug 28, Najib’s 1MDB Trial: Prosecution to Show Saudi Donations a Sham
Aug 28, Najib’s 1 MDB Trial: Prosecution to Prove Jho Low Was Najib’s Alter Ego
Aug 28, Najib’s 1MDB Trial Begins
