Judge questions Najib's counsel on distinction between personal and political spending

The Star

The trial judge in Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) case on Tuesday (Oct) questioned the defence team about the distinction between the former premier’s personal expenses and those for political purposes.  Read more at https://tinyurl.com/3swz886u  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

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00:00The trial judge in Datuk Seri Najib Razak's 1MDB case on Tuesday questioned the defence

00:06team about the distinction between the former premier's personal expenses and those for

00:11political purposes.

00:13During his submission at the close of the prosecution's case at the KL High Court,

00:18Judge Datuk Colin Lawrence Sequeira posed the question to Najib's lead counsel, Tan

00:24Shri Muhammad Shafi Abdullah.

00:27The lawyer said the defence proved that 99% of the money in Najib's account was not

00:33used for his personal purposes, for instance, to buy a private plane or treat everybody

00:38with champagne in a New York bar.

00:41He contended that Najib spent it for the benefit of the public, adding that his client had

00:45used 300 million ringgit from 1MDB for the 2013 general election.

00:51At this point, Judge Sequeira questioned the veteran counsel about the existence of

00:55any case law backing his argument.

00:59In response, Muhammad Shafi said that it is an inference of facts and that no case is

01:03quite like Najib's 1MDB case, setting it apart from any precedent.

01:08The judge then asked for the prosecution's comment on the matter.

01:12Deputy Public Prosecutor Kamal Bahreen Omar replied that they were only concerned with

01:18the fact that the alleged funds, which entered Najib's accounts, came from illegal proceeds.

01:25Fellow DPP Ahmad Akram Gharib added that it did not matter whether Najib used the purported

01:32funds for personal or political reasons, as the law says it is for his advantage.

01:38The submission continues.

01:48For more UN videos visit www.un.org

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