The Malaysian Insight

NAJIB Razak cannot claim to be ignorant of the RM42 million credited into his personal bank accounts because he was in full control of SRC International, said Attorney-General Tommy Thomas as the prosecution wound up its criminal case against the former prime minister today.

During the prosecution’s reply submission at the Kuala Lumpur High Court, the attorney-general said Najib has to explain more than 100 cheques issued from two of his personal AmBank accounts, despite earning less than RM1 million a year at the time.

Thomas told the court that Najib either “knew, had reason to believe, or had reasonable suspicion” that the monies in his AmPrivate banking account, were the proceeds of an unlawful activity.

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.

He was prime minister from 2009 to 2018.

During his oral submission in reply to the defence, this afternoon, Thomas argued the 66-year-old accused failed to take steps to ascertain whether the monies were the proceeds of unlawful activity.

“Despite overwhelming amount of evidence, the defence’s position is the prosecution had failed to prove the accused had knowledge of the RM42 million transferred into his accounts from SRC International,” Thomas said.

“Therefore, it is asserted by the defence that they do not need to submit on the element of ‘dishonesty’ because the accused had not acted dishonestly in relation to SRC International’s RM42 million, which entered the accused’s bank accounts. This is an extra-ordinary submission for the defence to make.”

Thomas said the prosecution has shown Najib pushed for the loans despite the Economic Planning Unit saying in 2011 that a RM3 billion government grant could not be justified because SRC International was only a two-ringgit company with no track record.

“Since SRC International failed to obtain the RM3 billion from the government, with the support and connivance of the accused, SRC International ended up getting a RM4 billion loan from KWAP (Retirement Fund Inc) instead,” Thomas said.

He further added that SRC International’s company constitution was drafted in such a manner that Najib had been given power to appoint the board of directors.

Thomas said Najib was in effective control of the board, as his instructions via SRC International CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil and the shareholder minutes confirmed.

“The decision to place SRC International under the Minister of Finance (MoF) Inc was for the benefit of Najib because it gave him direct control over the entity,” he said.

Thomas also said Najib was brazen in his conduct as prime minister and finance minister, later sacking his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin and former attorney-general Gani Patail for raising questions about SRC International, which was a former subsidiary of 1Malaysia Development Bhd.

“The weight of the evidence adduced is sufficient to convict the accused if he elects to remain silent should the accused be called to enter his defence,” Thomas said, adding that the court should order Najib to enter his defence on all seven charges.

Najib is charged with three counts of criminal breach of trust, three counts of money-laundering and one count of abuse of power. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

The former prime minister is represented by a dozen lawyers, led by Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.

Attorney-General Tommy Thomas leads the prosecution before Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali. – October 22, 2019.