“There was no personal gain. He did it for the benefit of the nation and the people,” Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said as he submitted for no additional bail to be imposed on his client.

Shafee said the money was used due to re-prioritisation of funding, but the lawyer did not go into details as the charges lacked particulars.

“The charges are unfounded as the accused made decisions for the good of the nation and public, or else it would have triggered a default which would have been disastrous,” he said.

Calling the charges atrocious and absurd, he said his team was looking forward to putting up a credible defence.

Najib and former Treasury secretary-general Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah were jointly charged with six CBT offences involving RM6.6 billion worth of government funds.

They were said to have committed the offences between December 2016 and December 2017.

According to the charges, they were entrusted with the funds but misappropriated the money.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) said both used approved government allocations to settle 1MDB’s dispute with International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC).

On the first charge of misappropriating RM1.2 billion, the money was from the East Coast Railway Line (ECRL) project while the second charge of RM655 million was money from two gas pipeline projects.

On the third charge, both utilised RM220 million allocated for operational expenditures of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport while the fourth charge of RM1.3 billion was funds meant for Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia.

The fifth charge is related to using RM1.26 billion from Chinese authorities but the money was diverted for unauthorised purposes.

On the sixth charge, the duo is also accused of misappropriating RM2 billion from the sale of a finance ministry land to Bank Negara.

Lawyer Gopal Sri Ram is leading the prosecution while K Kumaraendran appeared for Irwan.