KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Razak's defence team today shifted their focus to Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi's role in the inception of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) to prove that the former prime minister was innocent.
Shahrol Azral, who was 1MDB chief executive officer from March 2009 to March 2013, was allegedly the main driver behind the move to federalise the Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA), which later transformed into 1MDB in 2009.
Najib's lawyer Wan Azwan Aiman Wan Fakhruddin said Shahrol Azral had persistently urged the Ministry of Finance Inc (MOF Inc) to take over all TIA shares from Menteri Besar Terengganu Inc (MBTI), even when MBTI was still a special shareholder in TIA.
He said Shahrol's repeated requests to Najib for federalisation cleared up two key misconceptions: that the TIA federalisation was part of Najib's scheme for personal gain, and that Najib's decision lacked strong and legitimate reasoning.
The defence team also suggested that Shahrol had acted out of fidelity to fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, and not out of fear or compulsion from Najib.
The lawyer said that on July 15, 2009, the Cabinet during a meeting chaired by then deputy prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, had already agreed to the federalisation of TIA.
"The federal government was unwillingly dragged into the internal tussle between the management of TIA and MBTI and, by extension, the then Yang di-Pertuan Agong (Sultan Mizan Zainal Abdidin).
"The federal government had to step in to resolve the impasse created by some controversies between them," he said before presiding judge Datuk Collin Lawerence Sequerah.
Wan Azwan Aiman said this today when submitting on why the court should acquit Najib on abuse of power charges in relation to the 1MDB financial scandal.
He said the investigation officer herself agreed that there was no evidence that MBTI was influenced by Najib to relinquish its control over TIA.
Wan Azwan Aiman said the court is not the first forum to have heard Shahrol's "multiple and disparate excuses" in justifying his defiance of TIA's board of directors, shareholders, and even Sultan Mizan's decree.
"The same was relayed very much earlier before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) where it found Shahrol gave varying reasons regarding the issuance of the RM5 billion Islamic medium-term notes (IMTN).
"The PAC even recommended that Shahrol takes responsibility for the blunders and for law enforcement agencies to carry out further investigation on him and the 1MDB management," he said, adding that Shahrol's decisions and actions aligned with Low's interest.
He also argued that not only was there no evidence showing Najib's intent for personal gain, but the circumstances and documented events surrounding the decision contradicted with the notion that he had a 'guilty mind' from the outset.
"What precisely is the 'direct interest' the prosecution is alleging Najib's to have in 1MDB?
"He has no personal shareholding in the company apart from one held by MOF Inc which he represented in his official capacity," he said.
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.