Shafee claims Swiss court failed to mention Najib's role in convicting two PetroSaudi officials in connection with $1.8 billion 1MDB fraud

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 2 — The Swiss Federal Criminal Court failed to mention the involvement of former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in convicting two PetroSaudi International officials over their company's theft of US$1.8 billion from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), Najib's lawyer claimed today.

Najib's lead defence lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah today pointed to the Swiss court's August 28 conviction of Tarek Obaid and Patrick Mahony in the case, claiming the Swiss court had rejected the notion that fugitive financier Low Taek Jho was Najib's agent.

“In the case of the conviction of the two representatives of PetroSaudi International, the court found that they had misled the entire 1MDB.

“And the court not only mentioned their defence but also rejected it because they were the two representatives of Saudi Arabia and Jho Low was the representative of Datuk Seri Najib. The court rejected this defence and sentenced them to six and seven years imprisonment respectively.

“In sentencing them, the court did not mention Datuk Seri Najib’s involvement at all,” Shafee claimed, urging the Supreme Court to take note of the Swiss ruling.

However, Shafee did not present any news reports or other documents related to this lawsuit in court.

He said he mentioned the Swiss case because he wanted to raise an additional point in Najib's ongoing 1MDB trial, namely that there was allegedly “independent testimony and evidence that refutes any notion that Datuk Seri Najib authorized Jho Low as his agent at 1MDB”.

Among other things, Shafee noted today that Najib has not been called to testify in the Swiss case involving these two PetroSaudi officials.

“Yang Arif is aware that nowadays criminal proceedings in particular can take on a global dimension within seconds.

“Datuk Seri Najib is subject to restrictions because he is not free, but he could easily have been cross-examined or questioned in court via an audio facility from Switzerland. No one has ever asked him about it,” he said.

In the 1MDB trial, in which Najib is accused of embezzling over RMB 2.27 billion of 1MDB funds, prosecutors have said they will show that Low – better known as Jho Low – was Najib's mirror image and alter ego in 1MDB affairs.

Najib's lawyers criticized the prosecution's claim, saying it was a completely fabricated theory.

Najib's 1MDB trial before Judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah will resume this afternoon.