The Malaysian Insight

A TOTAL of RM606.51 million was credited into Najib Razak’s three current accounts from July 2013 to March 2015, the prosecution asserted during the re-examination of a witness today.

Referring to documents, ad hoc prosecutor V. Sithambaram asked former AmBank relationship manager Joanna Yu to confirm that from the amount, RM212.37 million comprised foreign monies received, which include RM162.44 million said to originate from a donation from a Saudi royal family.

Yu agreed with Sithambaram that minus the foreign monies, which Najib claimed to be donations and gifts, the former prime minister’s accounts still showed RM394.14 million in transactions.

Najib closed the three current accounts ending in “880”, “906” and “898” on March 9, 2015. 

Those accounts are the subject of the SRC International trial, for which Najib is facing several criminal charges, including money laundering, for allegedly receiving RM42 million.

Sithambaram said documents showed RM109.34 million in total payments was credited to the “898” account from 2013 to 2015. 

RM205.2 million and RM292.37 million were credited into the “906” and “880” accounts in the same period. 

Sithambaram said similar amounts were debited by 2015, leaving the accounts empty. 

Of the RM212.37 million in foreign monies received, RM162.54 million came from Najib’s older AmBank current account ending with “694”, RM45.84 million from Seychelles-based Vista Equity International Partners and RM4.09 milliom from Blackrock Commodities Global Ltd.

The two firms were identified by the US Department of Justice as being linked to Low Taek Jho, the alleged mastermind of the 1Malaysia Development Bhd scandal. 

SRC International was a subsidiary of 1MDB.

Earlier, Yu verified that Najib did in fact issue “numerous cheques” from the current accounts in his name.

Sithambaram: Does it, to your mind, show that Najib communicated with Low regarding these accounts?

Yu: Yes.

Sithambaram: As a banker, looking at these facts in this case, minus the Arab funds, is it possible for the account holder to have utilised the funds without his knowledge?

Yu: No.

Sithambaram: Has there been, to the best of your knowledge, been any allegation that any one of the cheques issued by Najib was in fact not issued by him?

Yu: No.

Sithambaram: From all the cross-examinations and from your looking at the evidence, is there any evidence, in your view as a banker, that Jho Low has utilised the money personally for his own benefit?

Yu: I am not aware because I don’t know all the details of the cheques, but from what I’ve seen so far, no.

Sithambaram: Were any of the cheques paid out to Jho Low?

Yu: No.

Sithambaram: Did Nik Faisal (Ariff Kamil), as the mandate holder, transfer any money out of these three accounts to himself?

Yu: No.

Sithambaram: Did you personally transfer or utilise any of the money in the three accounts for your own benefit?

Yu: No, I didn’t.

Sithambaram: Has the account holder (Najib) ever asked, or queried the RM212 million donations? And yet he was spending a sum of RM395 million? Has he asked where is all this money coming from? And yet he is writing cheques?

Yu: No.

Yu said it was not possible that Najib was not aware of the funds in his accounts due the numerous cheques issued.

She also said she contacted Low on August 9, 2014, to verify 24 transactions in Italy amounting to RM3.3 million because she received a call from AmBank’s credit card division.

“They told me Najib’s cards were used and asked whether Najib was in Italy. We wanted to ensure that the transactions were not fraudulent.”

Yu verified that Low replied he was in fact on holiday with the former prime minister in Italy and confirmed the transactions.

Sithambaram also asked Yu why she used her own money to cover a RM55,000 shortfall in Najib’s account.

Sithambaram: Why did you take it upon yourself to do so? You realise you committed a serious crime?

Yu: At the time, it was on the account of the prime minister of Malaysia. For the PM’s account to be declined, I thought it was a big embarrassment or it discredited (him).

Sithambaram: Was it your function as relationship manager to do this?

Yu: Actually, we could (have opted) not to do anything.

Yu also confirmed that Najib was referred to as OP by Low in a BlackBerry conversation, and that OP referred to the Transformers character, Optimus Prime.

Earlier, when cross-examined by Harvinderjit, Yu denied that she was “trying to cover up” for Jho Low.

She also denied that she had been in communication with him over the past few days.

She disagreed with the defence’s contention that the various actions by Low over the years were designed to ensure that Najib never discovered an accurate balance of his accounts.

She also disagreed with a statement that Low made sure Najib’s accounts had sufficient funds to guarantee the former prime minister was never alerted to misconduct in connection with the accounts.

Defence lawyers have argued that Low, possibly working with rogue bankers and senior executives within SRC International, defrauded the government-linked entity of millions.

Najib’s charges are linked to RM4 billion in loans issued to SRC International in 2011 and 2012, for which he is accused of receiving RM42 million in his accounts in 2014 and 2015.

The 66-year-old was charged with three counts of criminal breach of trust, three counts of money-laundering and one count of abuse of power.

The former prime minister is represented by a dozen lawyers led by Muhammad Shafee Abdullah. Attorney-General Tommy Thomas leads the prosecution while Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali presides. – August 6, 2019.