The High Court today heard testimony from an anti-graft buster who related that Datuk Seri Najib Razak had claimed to have kept hundred of millions of ringgit in his bank account as contingency funds to prevent a repeat of the “September 16, 2008” plan to topple his Barisan Nasional (BN) government….
“Immediately after the 13th general election (GE13), the funds could not be utilised fully because spending was already sufficient.
“As to the remaining funds after GE13, I kept them in my bank account temporarily as a contingency in the extraordinary event there was a repeat of the September 16, 2008 incident where Barisan Nasional federal lawmakers were courted by the Opposition to switch allegiance.
“Therefore, I needed to prepare financially even though I disagreed with this practice because I was afraid the Opposition might attempt a similar manoeuvre again.
“But when nothing transpired, I felt the money needed to be returned to its sender, that is Tanore,” Nur Aida said in reading out excerpts from Najib’s statement to the MACC provided in 2018 to the open court.
The September 16, 2008 event refers to a boast by then Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim that he would be able to take federal power with the defection of at least 30 MPs from BN after the now defunct Pakatan Rakyat coalition ― comprising PKR, DAP and PAS ― won 82 out of 222 seats in Parliament.
….Earlier, Nur Aida also confirmed Najib was given ample opportunity to make any amendments to his statement provided to investigators when it was recorded after the 14th general election in 2018
This shocking suggestion that Najib had kept hundreds of millions of ringgit on standby after the 2013 election, in case MPs needed to be bought over, had long been whispered among BN circles.
Now, gobsmackingly, we hear that very admission came from the defendant himself through his own statement to the MACC right after his arrest, which the witness testifies the ex-PM had every opportunity to withdraw but never did.
What better illustration of the entrenched corruption of the democratic process that has plagued Malaysia from the very top? Najib says he “disapproved” of the practice (of buying over MPs) …. but evidently held the view that in order to defy the electorate, needs must.
Recall how Sabah’s Musa Aman was excused after his subordinate was caught smuggling millions in cash through Hong Kong. As the money was allegedly destined for party political purposes only the corruption was judged to be acceptable by the federal government controlled MACC .
Indeed, having been subsequently arraigned over 46 other backhander and money laundering violations in 2018, Musa was let loose again in Sabah after the restoration of a BN friendly government and unexplained dropping of all those charges by the prosecution.
Najib clearly feels he is owed the same dispensation given his world record theft was all for politics and not himself (forgetting the mere half billion spent on diamonds for his wife and the further yachts, luxuries, movie investments etc).
Indeed, it has been consistently striking how in the course of lining up his excuses for the $5 billion theft from the fund he presided over personally, he has admitted to alternative crimes that would in any other country be considered self damning.
It was his original excuse that he understood the money, which had been stolen under his watch and then funnelled into his personal account, was in fact provided by a foreign despot to help him pervert the course of the Malaysian election (making him a client of Saudi Arabia).
Now his further excuse is that he hung on to the cash (before he allegedly intended to return what he had not used) in case he needed to bribe MPs to join his party when they had been elected to oppose him.
With excuses such as these who needs to be convicted of any other crime?