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Kuala Lumpur: Najib Razak’s lawyers told the High Court in his 1MDB trial the abuse of power charges filed against the former prime minister were tantamount to political persecution.

Wan Azwan Aiman Wan Fakhruddin said Najib was made the fall guy for the whole 1MDB saga, even though the violations and misdeeds were committed by the company’s former directors and management staff.

Submitting for the defence at the close of the prosecution’s case today, he claimed that several of these former directors and management staff and directors had testified against Najib in exchange for immunity from prosecution.

“1MDB’s civil suits filed against them were also withdrawn.

They cannot come to court and hoodwink the judge by saying they have nothing to gain from testifying, Azwan said.

The trial saw former 1MDB CEOs Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi and Hazem Abd Rahman, former director Ismee Ismail, former chairman Bakke Salleh and former chief financial officer Azmi Tahir testify for the prosecution.

Lead counsel Shafee Abdullah said in his submission that last week, the Swiss federal criminal court found PetroSaudi International executives Tarek Obaid and Patrick Mahony guilty of embezzling over US$1.8 billion from 1MDB.

Obaid was sentenced to seven years in prison, while Mahony received a six-year sentence.

The court also ordered the confiscation and restitution of their assets, including real estate and funds held in various bank accounts, amounting to more than US$240 million.

Shafee said the court in Tarek and Mahony’s case never mentioned that Najib was involved.

Those were independent testimonies and evidence, and demolished any idea that he (Najib) had appointed Low Taek Jho (or Jho Low) as his representative in 1MDB and in 1MDB’s joint venture with PSI, he added.

Najib is charged with 25 counts of money laundering and abuse of power over alleged 1MDB funds amounting to RM2.28 billion deposited in his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.

The hearing before Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues.