Najib Razak, the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, was in shock that he was not acquitted of all charges in the SRC International Sdn Bhd case with the KL High Court ordering him to enter his defence.
His lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said Najib thought he would be acquitted of all seven charges.
“He was shocked that defence was called for every charge. He, too, was expecting an acquittal on all seven charges.
“We were confident all the seven charges would be an acquittal at this stage because we have rebutted the presumption even within the prosecution’s case. We have rebutted.
“So of course, he was surprised. In fact, shocked is the word,” he told reporters outside the Kuala Lumpur Court Complex.
Najib, 66, is accused of abuse of power, three charges of money laundering and three charges of criminal breach of trust.
The case of abuse of power involves a government guarantee on SRC International’s RM4 billion loan from Retirement Fund Inc.
The criminal breach of trust accusation refers to the transfer of RM42 million to his account from the SRC, a former 1MDB unit.
In response to the order to enter his defence, Najib has opted to give evidence under oath.
He will enter his defence on Dec 3 for the seven charges in relation to the transfer of RM42 million to his account from SRC International.
This means Najib will now be able to give his side of the story and his defence team will also be able to question the prosecutor’s witnesses.
“You will hear the real story from the accused. He has to tell his version of what happened in SRC as far as he knows.
“What are the things he can dispute. Whether he was in control of SRC, which we had said he was not in control of,” said Najib’s lawyer. -/TISG