KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Razak's abuse of power charge involving 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) is defective, the High Court heard today.
Lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah made this contention when submitting his arguments on why the court should acquit his client of the charge.
He said the charge was poorly drafted, as it implied that the former prime minister had committed the crime at AmBank.
The charge sheet read: Najib — as the prime minister, finance minister and the chairman of the 1MDB advisory board — was alleged to have used his positions to obtain gratification totalling RM60,629,839.43 by taking four actions between Feb 24, 2011, and June 14, 2011, at the Jalan Raja Chulan branch of the AmIslamic Bank Bhd.
Shafee argued that the prosecution failed to give evidence to show that Najib was present at AmIslamic Bank anywhere between Feb 24, 2011, and June 14, 2011, to abuse his official position there.
He said prosecution witnesses' testimonies reveal that the (prosecution's) case is based on the money deposited into Najib's account at AmIslamic Bank.
"What they say is that receiving gratification is the offence. My client is able to say that he has not even been to the bank.
"How could they say that my client was at AmIslamic Bank and used his position for personal gain?"
He said Najib had neither seen the AmBank building nor been to the bank.
"How could he be accused of abuse of power at AmBank? It confused us in our defence."
Earlier, he said the defence has submitted 2,500 pages of arguments for Najib's 1MDB corruption trial.
He said this was due to the overwhelming evidence, which they are not allowed to compromise, to emphasise their point on why the court should consider their arguments thoroughly.
"This is to show that the four principal charges are defective.
"The charges suffer from defects, such as multiplicity and duplicity, which lead to ambiguity," he said before judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah.
Najib, 71, is facing four charges of using his position to obtain bribes totalling RM2.3 billion from 1MDB funds and 21 charges of money laundering involving the same amount.
For the 21 charges of money laundering, the former Pekan member of parliament is accused of committing the offences between March 22, 2013, and Aug 30, 2013.