Friday 29 Mar 2024
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This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on February 5, 2020

KUALA LUMPUR: For the second day in a row, former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak recited a religious oath from the witness stand, denying he had sought gratification concerning RM42 million, allegedly from SRC International Sdn Bhd, in his bank account.

Just like on Monday, he recited the sumpah laknat while being re-examined in the SRC trial in the High Court. The oath beseeches God to carry out divine retribution upon those who lie, and is often used by Muslims to strongly deny an accusation.

“As a Muslim, wallahi wabillahi watallahi ... I never sought any gratification and I did not know the RM42 million went into my account at that material time,” Najib said yesterday, replying to lead defence counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.

Yesterday, Najib recited the same oath while being re-examined by another counsel, Farhan Read.

This was the first time the former premier recited the oath in Arabic during court proceedings to deny the charges against him, unlike previously when Najib took the religious oath in a mosque.

Last December, he took the sumpah laknat at the Kampung Baru mosque to deny Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri’s statutory declaration (SD) that Najib had a role in Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu’s murder or ordered her execution.

Azilah, in the SD, sought a review of the Federal Court decision in January 2015 that found him and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar guilty of murdering Altantuya and meted a punishment of death.

However, Sirul left the country before the decision and is now held at an Australian immigration centre near Sydney, Australia.

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