KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 28): Former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak was charged in the High Court here today on three additional charges involving money laundering totaling RM47 million ($15.5 million), five years ago.
Najib, 66, who was dressed in a blue suit, pleaded not guilty after all the extra charges were read separately before Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali.
Najib's cases were set for mention here today. The former Prime Minister already faces three criminal breach of trust charges involving SRC International funds amounting to RM42 million and three counts of money laundering involving the same fund.
For the three additional charges, Najib was accused of being involved in money laundering with a total sum of RM47 million, which was a result of illegal activities in his three AmPrivate Banking accounts.
All the offenses were allegedly committed at AmIslamic Bank Berhad, Ambank Group Building, No 55, Jalan Raja Chulan on July 8, 2014 under Section 4 (1) (a) of the 2001 Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act which provides for a maximum fine of RM5 million or imprisonment not exceeding five years or both, upon conviction.
The Pekan MP, also pleaded not guilty to three amended charges of criminal breach of trust involving SRC International funds and three counts of money laundering involving the same fund, after all the charges were re-read.
Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Datuk Mohamad Hanafiah Zakaria informed the court that there were three additional charges of money laundering being filed against the accused.
"The prosecution also submitted amendments to three charges involving SRC funds under Section 409 of the Penal Code which were faced by the accused and three amendments of the law involving money laundering," he said.
Mohamad Hanafiah said the prosecution had issued the words 'RM4 billion' from the three allegations of misconduct faced by Najib and for three counts of money laundering, the word '2001' added on to each Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act.
Meanwhile, Deputy Public Prosecutor Muhammad Izzat Fauzan also filed an application for the cases to be heard together with the criminal breach of trust and money laundering cases that he had previously been charged with.
Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, representing Najib, objected to the additional charges being heard together with the previous charges and requested for time to examine whether the three charges could be heard together or otherwise.
The court fixed Feb 7 to hear submissions from both parties on the application to discuss all the cases.
Up until today, Najib was charged for the sixth time in court with 42 counts, including today's charge.
On July 4, Najib was charged with three counts of misconduct and one charge of abusing his post over SRC International Sdn Bhd's fund of RM42 million.
On Aug 8, he was charged with three counts of money laundering involving the same amount belonging to the same fund.
On Sept 20, Najib was brought back to the Sessions Court and charged with four counts of corruption amounting to RM2.282 billion 1MDB funds and 21 money laundering charges. On Oct 25, he and former Treasury Secretary-General Tan Sri Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah, requested that the case be heard at the Sessions Court on six counts of criminal breach of trust involving funds amounting to RM6,636,065,000, owned by the Malaysian government.
On Dec 12, 2018, the former Prime Minister pleaded not guilty at the Sessions Court here on a charge of using his position by ordering the Final Audit Report on 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) to be amended before tabling it to the National Public Accounts Committee (PAC), to avoid any action against it.
