KUALA LUMPUR: The defence lawyer of Datuk Seri Najib Razak told the High Court, here, today that the former prime minister and finance minister, was denied his right to a fair trial in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB)'s alleged fund misappropriation of RM2.3 billion.
Lawyer Wan Azwan Aiman Wan Fakhruddin, in his submissions at the end of the prosecution's case, said it was because the probe conducted by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) was done hastily, and that it was shoddy and biased.
He said the probe by MACC senior investigating officer
Assistant Superintendent Nur Aida Arifin, the 49th prosecution witness, was selective and incomplete.
Wan Azwan Aiman said this had denied the former Pekan member of parliament, who is also ex-Umno president, to a fair trial as enshrined in Article 5 of the Federal Constitution.
He said there were many more defence aspects that was not investigated completely and thoroughly by the investigating officer, causing flaws in the prosecution's case.
He said one of Najib's defence was that the money he had received in his account was a donation from Saudi Arabia; however, it was never investigated by Nur Aida, to enable to have a complete MACC probe.
"The investigations was done shoddily and hurriedly and denied Datuk Seri Najib of his right which is guaranteed under the Federal Constitution to a fair trial and investigations.
"The probe by the investigating officer (Nur Aida) was also biased because they had decided ahead to charge Datuk Seri Najib in court without taking into consideration the results of the investigations.
"When the investigation papers was referred to the Attorney-General's Chambers (A-GC), Datuk Seri Najib's statement under Section 53(3) of the MACC Act did not become part of the consideration of the charges against him. His explanation was also not considered by the A-GC."
He said the investigation papers by the MACC investigating officer and the proposed charge was handed over to the A-GC on Aug 28, 2018.
This is while the consent to charge Najib was issued by the A-GC on Sept 19, 2018.
He said the two events unfolded before Najib completed giving his statement to the MACC which was at 8.10am on Sept 20, 2018, the day he was hauled to the court to face the charges.
"When cross- examined during the trial, Nur Aida confirmed our suspicions that Datuk Seri Najib was charged in court on the same day, which was right after they completed recording his statement.
"The witness also confirmed that the consent to charge was issued a day before they completed recording Datuk Seri Najib's statement.
"This showed that the recording of statement was not more than a formality and a mere administrative work.
"It also showed that there are shortcomings in the statement that was recorded where the investigations was biased because Datuk Seri Najib was not informed of the charges he possibly could face," he said.
Wan Azwan Aiman said Section 53(3) of the MACC Act required a notice to be served to a person on the charge against them.
He said such a notice was needed to allow an accused to have a fair chance to answer the charges and to deter his defence from being labelled as an afterthought.
Najib is facing four charges for using his positions to obtain the RM2.3 billion bribes from 1MDB funds and 21 money laundering charges of the same amount.
The proceedings before judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah resumes tomorrow.