PUTRAJAYA, April 8 — The government’s task force on 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), chaired by then Attorney General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail, had discussed charging then Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, a former police investigator told the High Court today.
Senior Assistant Commissioner R. Rajagopal, who was present during that task force meeting and was part of the police’s investigation team on 1MDB, said this while testifying as the 11th defence witness in Najib’s 1MDB trial.
Rajagopal confirmed he had in 2015 told then Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) official Tan Sri Dzulkifli Ahmad about this task force discussion to charge Najib.
During the 1MDB trial, the prosecution had given the court a 12-page transcript of an audio recording, which showed then Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Dzulkifli had informed Najib in a near-midnight phone call on January 5, 2016, about the 1MDB task force’s discussion.
Previously, Najib, as the first defence witness, said it was not wrong for him as the prime minister to hear Dzulkifli’s updates about the 1MDB investigation against him, and said he had not interfered with investigations.
Today, Rajagopal explained that he, as an investigator, had briefed Dzulkifli about other cases in the past and said this was part of his work in the police force when dealing with the AGC then.
“So this is one of the conversations I had with him when I met him in an official capacity. I think this should be 2015.
“So this conversation started, so I said, yes, in the task force, there was discussion to charge Datuk Seri Najib, and all these things pertaining to the money Datuk Seri Najib received in his bank account. I told him in an official capacity because he is there as AGC,” Rajagopal said regarding his briefing to Dzulkifli, who was in the multi-agency National Revenue Recovery Enforcement Team (NRRET).
Asked by Najib’s lead defence lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah if it was proper for him to brief Dzulkifli, Rajagopal said: “He just asked me and I just said what was discussed in the task force, so I take it, it is more of an official thing, informing him, knowing that he’s a DPP in the AGC.”
Asked again if there was nothing wrong for him to brief then Senior DPP Dzulkifli about the 1MDB investigations, Rajagopal said: “I take it there’s nothing wrong, I’m being asked certain things I’m handling, I just answer. That’s purely official communication between me and Datuk Seri Dzulkifli in AGC.”
Rajagopal confirmed Dzulkifli did not give him any directions as a result of the briefing, also confirming that the latter did not give him any directions that were not according to the law.
Rajagopal confirmed Dzulkifli did not say he could “slow down and take it easy” on Najib.
The 1MDB task force was later disbanded after Abdul Gani’s July 2015 termination as Attorney General, but Najib previously denied in this trial that the termination was connected to rumoured plans to charge him as the then Prime Minister.
Dzulkifli, who was NRRET director while in the AGC, later served as the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief in August 2016 until mid-May 2018.
Najib was a suspect in police’s 1MDB probe
Rajagopal had been in the police’s investigation team since it started probing a December 2014 police report on mismanagement and financial misconduct in 1MDB, and on September 13, 2015, took over as the investigating officer leading the police’s criminal breach of trust (CBT) on 1MDB.
Throughout his 1MDB investigation, Rajagopal today said Najib never called him to give a briefing about 1MDB, and said he did not receive any instructions — during Najib’s tenure as Prime Minister — to delay the 1MDB investigations.
Rajagopal confirmed today that Najib became a suspect in the police’s investigation on 1MDB, as it found that money from 1MDB came into his bank account.
“There are two things I was looking at that time, it’s not only on the scope of money coming into Najib’s bank account, but also by virtue of his position as being the shareholder who is signing off the board’s (decisions) — whatever decisions they bring up for the shareholder’s approval.
“On that context, we see there’s involvement and we find there’s money in the bank account which is traceable to 1MDB,” he said.
Najib, who was the finance minister, had signed resolutions on behalf of 1MDB’s sole shareholder, Minister of Finance Incorporated (MoF Inc), to approve key 1MDB decisions.
Asked about Najib’s claim that he thought the money in his account was donations from Saudi Arabia, Rajagopal said this was not in his scope of investigation, as it was the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) that was handling investigations then on the RM2.6 billion that went into Najib’s bank account.
Asked if he had ever investigated whether Najib knew that the source of the money was actually from 1MDB, Rajagopal said he is unable to say as he had not recorded Najib’s statement.
Rajagopal previously repeatedly told this trial that he had wanted to record Najib’s statement for investigations, but that Shafee had objected as Najib had been charged in court.
Najib’s 1MDB trial before trial judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah resumes tomorrow, with Shafee expected to continue re-examining Rajagopal.
