MACC oversight committee wanted Najib prosecuted, court told
V Anbalagan
-August 27, 2019 3:00 PM
MACC investigating officer Rosli Hussain.KUALA LUMPUR: An oversight committee in the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had insisted that former attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali review his decision to exonerate Najib Razak over the SRC International Sdn Bhd and 1MDB cases, the High Court heard today.
MACC investigating officer Rosli Hussain said the committee chaired by Dr Hamid Bugo had wanted Apandi to review the cases after his “no further action” conclusion on Jan 26, 2016.
“We were confident that Najib had committed the offences that MACC investigated,” he said when examined by deputy public prosecutor Suhaimi Ibrahim.
Apandi had cleared Najib of wrongdoing in a press conference after close to six months of investigations into the RM2.6 billion channelled into the then-prime minister’s bank accounts as well as finance ministry-owned firm SRC International.
He said there was “insufficient evidence” to implicate the prime minister.
Apandi also refused to assist MACC investigators in obtaining documents and statements from abroad as part of their probe under the mutual legal assistance initiative.
Rosli today told the court that he had referred the updated investigation papers to Apandi on three occasions between March 2016 and July the following year, with no prosecution.
The 57th and final prosecution witness said he finally submitted the paper along with his recommendations to the newly appointed attorney-general, Tommy Thomas, on June 12 last year.
“We proposed that Najib be charged with abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering,” he said.
When cross-examined by lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, Rosli said no deputy public prosecutors from MACC had gone through the investigation papers before they were sent to Apandi.
“Only my superior, Bahari Mohamed Zin, looked at the papers before I personally sent them to Apandi,” he said.
He also said the SRC International and 1MDB cases were given special treatment as deputy public prosecutors at MACC would normally go through the investigation papers before they are sent to the prosecutors.
Rosli said while the attorney-general makes the final decision on whether to frame charges against accused persons, MACC can also ask the prosecutor to review his stand.
He also told the court that deputy public prosecutor Kevin Morais, who was found murdered, was not involved in the SRC International case.
Ad hoc prosecutor V Sithambaram objected to Shafee’s line of questioning, saying it was irrelevant to the charges faced by Najib.
Shafee however said his client wished to be acquitted of all present charges, not just cleared of responsibility for the crimes.
Najib, 66, is facing three counts of criminal breach of trust, one charge of abusing his position and three counts of money laundering over SRC International funds amounting to RM42 million.
The Pekan MP was charged with committing the offences at AmIslamic Bank Bhd on Jalan Raja Chulan and the Prime Minister’s Office in Putrajaya between Aug 17, 2011 and Feb 10, 2015.
