KUALA LUMPUR — Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s legal team has vowed to summon former attorney-general (AG) Tan Sri Tommy Thomas should the former prime minister’s RM6.6 billion International Petroleum Investment Company (Ipic) trial advances to the defence stage.
Najib’s lawyer, Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, said that Tommy will be subpoenaed to provide his testimony on the leaked memorandum from the public prosecutor’s office purportedly suggesting for the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) to drop the charges against Najib in the Ipic case linked with sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).
“We have promised that we will call all the seven deputy public prosecutors and the five investigating officers who wrote the memorandum,” Shafee told a press conference outside the court complex here today.
“We will also subpoena Tommy because one of our biggest defence is that this (Najib’s case proceeding despite recommendations otherwise from prosecutors) is a total abuse of process.
“We can maintain a civil proceeding against all those responsible (for the continuation of the charges), especially Tommy, for malicious prosecution and abuse of process (to seek) damages against these two gentlemen, my client included.”
In October 2018, Najib and former treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah were jointly charged with six criminal breach of trust (CBT) charges over accusations of using government funds to pay Ipic.
The alleged memorandum was supposedly sent to then-AG Tommy by the lead prosecutor in the case, Jamil Aripin, in September 2019.
It reportedly said that based on an evaluation, the available evidence against Najib and Irwan was “grossly insufficient to prove a prima facie case for the six charges, let alone to serve a conviction beyond reasonable doubt.”
Last month, it was reported that the AGC will be investigating the alleged leak.
Alleging that Tommy had opted to push ahead with the case “despite not being a criminal lawyer,” Shafee asserted that Jamil is now facing retributive action for the opinions he had stated in the memorandum.
“I am also reliably told that because (Jamil) and seven other deputy public prosecutors wrote that opinion…Jamil has been punished by being transferred to a remote area in Malaysia.” he said.
Tan Sri Shafee Abdullah alleges that the deputy public prosecutor who purportedly wrote the leaked internal memo to drop a 1MDB-linked case involving his client @NajibRazak and Tan Sri Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah has been "punished" pic.twitter.com/PeB3ijerRW
— Scoop (@Scoopdotmy) September 15, 2023
He added that his team will be “reminding” the AGC about the representation letter it had submitted on Najib’s behalf as today’s court proceedings, which saw the judge ruling for the Ipic trial to begin next year, did not mention the submission.
He also claimed that the prosecution will have a difficult time crafting its case, thanks to the leaked memorandum, saying: “They will have a nightmare preparing their witness statement, because their witness statement will show nothing, no offence (committed by Najib and Irwan).”
Earlier on, High Court Judge Datuk Muhammad Jamil Hussin set 13 dates in June and another 17 days in July next year for Najib and Irwan’s trial to take place.
The high court had also previously struck out the pair’s application for a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) for all six charges.
The charges were framed under Section 409 of the Penal Code for CBT by a public servant or agent read together with Section 34 of the same code, which provides for a maximum of 20 years jail, whipping and a fine if found guilty.
Accused of having committed the offences at the Finance Ministry complex in Putrajaya between December 21, 2016 and December 18, 2017, it is believed that the pair had submitted the fresh representation letters to the AGC due to high-level government talks between Malaysia and Abu Dhabi. — September 15, 2023