KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 30 – Former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak was “wilfully blind” with regard to his failure to inquire into the origin of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) funds, the High Court ruled on Wednesday.
Justice Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah (now Court of Appeal judge) said in light of the enormous sums of funds deposited namely, US$681 million and the sums returned of US$620 million into Najib’s account, it was incumbent upon him to take reasonable steps to ascertain whether or not the property were proceeds from unlawful activity.
“The above instances of conduct as well as the respective acts of receiving, using and transferring the proceeds by the accused were also relevant under Section 8 of the Evidence Act 1950.
“…and therefore admissible to reasonably and justifiably infer knowledge on the part of the accused with respect to all the 21 charges of money laundering,” the judge said in his 41-page summary judgment.
Earlier, Justice Sequerah ordered Najib, 71, to enter his defence on four charges of using his position to obtain gratification totalling RM2.3 billion in 1MDB funds and 21 money laundering charges involving the same money after finding that the prosecution had established a prima facie case on all 25 charges at the end of the prosecution’s case.
Meanwhile, Justice Sequerah held that there was evidence to show that the sum of US$681 million which originated from the bank account registered under the name of Tanore Finance Corporation, at Falcon Private Bank, Singapore was transferred to the accused’s account 9694.