KUALA LUMPUR: The author of Billion Dollar Whale said Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah probably did not read the bestselling book properly.
Tom Wright said if he had done so, the prominent lawyer would not have said that the book had cleared his client Datuk Seri Najib Razak of wrongdoings in the case involving 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) funds.
Shafee had previously gone on record as saying that he was excited by the book as it had suggested that Najib was misled or cheated by Low Taek Jho, who is better known as Jho Low.
The lawyer said he had read the book and it would be interesting if it was raised in court as evidence.
“If the book can be made evidence, it’s very interesting because this book confirms most likely — they said, this is their opinion — Jho Low had in fact misled people like Datuk Seri Najib...the book says so,” he was quoted as saying immediately after Najib was charged with 25 counts of money laundering and abuse of power offences over 1MDB funds.
However, Wright said in an interview on BFM’s Breakfast Grille show this morning that Shafee was wrong in jumping to the conclusion.
“It’s nonsense, Shafee didn’t read the book properly for sure,” he said.
He said the authors were fair to Najib in the book, as they had pointed out that he did not know everything that took place and that only Low knew.
But Wright said that did not absolve Najib from any wrongdoings.
“Najib probably didn’t know that RM4.5 billion or more was taken from the Malaysian people but he did know it was slush funds and he also knew about all his assets getting including the house they were staying in, all the businesses in the US, the film company and the US$27 million pink diamond his wife got,” he said.
Wright said Najib repeatedly said that the money was a donation from the Arab Saudi royals and the money was returned.
“But money went back to an offshore company Tanore Finance,” he said.
“The money neither came or went to the Saudi, the money came from 1MDB via Tanore and went back to Tanore and from there it was used to buy the RM27 million jewellery for Najib’s wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor,” he said.
On the making of the book, he said it started in 2015 when news emerged of financial transactions involving 1MDB that “didn’t make any sense”.
Upon further scrutiny, he said it was discovered that a major scandal involving a sitting prime minister was brewing.