The Malaysian Insight

NAJIB Razak’s chief of staff Abdul Aziz Kassim had ordered for documents, including those related to 1MDB, to be shredded just before the general election last year, a witness told the Kuala Lumpur High Court today.

Najib’s former special officer Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin testified that the directive was given to officers at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) before the May 9 polls.

“Leading up to the election, the chief of staff ordered us to shred some documents, file and keep those that were very important, so that after the election, they could be used again,” Amhari said during cross-examination at the 1MDB trial today.

Najib is on trial for four counts of power abuse to enrich himself with RM2.3 billion from 1MDB and 21 counts of money-laundering involving the same amount.

Amhari told the court that he was “very, very busy” assisting Najib with his social media campaign and had “terlepas pandang” (forgotten) to shred the documents.

The witness testified that around the same time of Aziz’s instructions, he received the same instruction from Penang-born businessman Low Taek Jho, a central figure in the 1MDB scandal.

Amhari said he kept the documents at his residence in Kota Damansara and at his cousin’s apartment in Persiaran Tropicana, both addresses in Petaling Jaya.

The witness confirmed a raid on the apartment on June 25, 2018 when the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) seized the documents.

The documents included 1MDB’s rationalisation plan, Low’s 1MDB talking points and a copy of an e-mail from International Petroleum Investment Corporation (IPIC) lawyer Martin Edelman regarding the 1MDB-IPIC settlement deal.

The 43-year-old witness said enforcement officers later found that the documents seized from his home were irrelevant.

Amhari agreed with a suggestion by lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah that some documents were destroyed because Low told him to do so.

Shafee then suggested that some documents were kept as “insurance” at a separate address because the witness believed Low was a “manipulator”.

Amhari denied this.

Amhari also disagreed with a suggestion that he had hidden the documents so he could cut a deal with the MACC for leniency.

Shafee accused Amhari of owning Aabar Investments PJS BVI via Tycoon Game Ltd.

Aabar was described as a fraudulent firm in a 2017 US Department of Justice suit against 1MDB figures.

The witness later denied another suggestion that he colluded with Low to defraud 1MDB.

Senior ad hoc prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram objected, saying that Shafee could not prove that the witness owned Tycoon Game Ltd.

Presiding judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah told Shafee to include the matter in his submission.

Najib faces up to 20 years imprisonment if found guilty.

The 66-year-old is represented by a dozen lawyers led by Shafee while Sri Ram, a former Federal Court justice, leads the prosecution. – September 19, 2019.