KUALA LUMPUR: One would think that the most important person in any trial is the judge, who ultimately decides whether an accused is guilty or walks free.
However, in the case of the public prosecutor versus Datuk Seri Najib Razak, the former prime minister’s lead counsel yesterday shocked the court by stating that his client was the “most important” person in the courtroom.
Najib, Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said, was more important than anyone else.
“He is more important than me, all the lawyers here and even the judge.
“He is the most important person here.”
Shafee said this when one of the prosecution witness had to be reminded repeatedly to speak up to enable everyone to hear what he was saying.
The witness, former SRC International Sdn Bhd chairman Tan Sri Ismee Ismail, had taken the stand as the 39th witness to testify in Najib’s trial.
However, hardly anyone could hear what he was saying as he finished reading his witness statement and was being questioned by deputy public prosecutor Datuk Ishak Mohd Yusoff.
This prompted another of Najib’s lawyers, Harvinderjit Singh, to stand up several times to remind Ismee that his testimony was being recorded and he needed to speak up for everyone to hear what he was saying.
The reminder did not seem to work until Shafee finally got up in exasperation and made the remark about how Najib especially, needed to hear what was being said in court.
He said the accused, more than anyone else, needed to know what was being said by the witnesses.
However, his remark about Najib being the most important person in the courtroom did not sit well with the prosecution.
Deputy public prosecutor Datuk V. Sithambaram immediately stood up when Shafee said Najib was even more important than the judge.
“Everyone is important here,” he said.
Also present in court at that time was Attorney-General Tommy Thomas.
Ismee eventually continued with his testimony and detailed how he was appointed as the chairman of SRC International on Aug 1, 2011.
However, Ismee said he decided to resign from the company in May, 2014 due to governance issues involving SRC International.
Ismee said he quit the 1MDB-linked company as he could not agree with the way its accounts were being managed.
He blamed SRC International managing director Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil for this.
Ismee said he had raised such matters with Nik Faisal many times but the latter always brushed him off.
“He kept saying it had been discussed and agreed by the government.
“I understood this to mean that it was discussed and agreed by Najib, who was then the prime minster,” he said.
Ismee also revealed how the very first board meeting of SRC International had discussed securing a loan from the Retirement Fund Incorporated (KWAP).
He added that the company did whatever was instructed by 1MDB, which was the shareholder of SRC International.
SRC International, he said, reported directly to Najib who was its emeritus adviser.
Ismee said Nik Faisal eventually admitted to the board that they had been misled into signing off unaudited SRC’s account for 2013 after the matter was exposed in the media.
“He apologised for the oversight but I decided to resign as I had to take the responsibility,” he said.
Najib, 66, is facing seven charges related to abuse of SRC International funds amounting to RM42 million.
The charges include three for criminal breach of trust, one for abuse of power over the funds and three for money-laundering over the same funds.
He faces up to 20 years’ jail and a fine for the offences.
The trial continues.