The Malaysian Insight

FORMER prime minister Najib Razak did not check if the large sum deposited into his AmBank accounts were from Saudi Arabia’s ruling royal family, the Kuala Lumpur High Court heard today.

Najib said he never checked with Wisma Putra to authenticate if it was the late King Abdullah Abdulaziz Al Saud who transferred the money to his private bank accounts, because the alleged donation was received not long after he met the king in early 2010.

When examined by defence counsel Rahmat Hazlan, Najib testified that King Abdullah, who passed away in 2015, had expressed confidence in his style of leadership.

Najib also spoke of the involvement of fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, commonly known as Jho Low.

Rahmat: Had Datuk Seri, at any time, tried to formally verify the facts regarding the Saudi donation through Wisma Putra?

Najib: No.

Rahmat: Why not?

Najib: This was because the announcement regarding the donation came about not long after King Abdullah privately expressed his support to me during our visit (to Saudi Arabia) in January 2010.

Due to Jho Low’s role, and other matters that strengthened my belief he has a strong relationship with the Saudi royal family and because he was recognised as an intermediary, I did not have any reason to doubt the authenticity of the donation.

Najib told the court that he did not keep the donations a secret and that then Bank Negara governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz was informed of the funds in his personal AmBank accounts.

Najib: The matter was informed to AmBank and all the transactions and documents were reported to Bank Negara and Tan Sri Zeti herself. No issues were ever raised.

Rahmat: What made you believe that these letters (four letters tendered as exhibits) were truly from the Saudi royal family?

Najib: These letters from Jho Low, clearly showed a close relationship with the Saudi royals. I was made aware that these letters were also handed over to AmBank and Bank Negara. I was relieved to learn when the letters were reported to Bank Negara and Tan Sri Zeti herself.

The fact remains that Bank Negara has never raised any red flags between 2011 until 2014. I believed all transactions were as reported.

The defence submitted four letters dated between March 1, 2013 and June 1, 2014, which claimed to be from the Saudi government authenticating the donations.

“These form the basis of my belief that whatever amounts in my accounts were to be used at my absolute discretion,” Najib said.

The court was told that AmBank account number ending 694 was closed in 2013, and three new accounts ending 880, 906 and 898 were subsequently opened after discussion with his principal private secretary Azlin Alias.

Azlin died in a helicopter crash in 2015.

Najib said the accounts were meant to receive the donation from King Adullah, which he would channel to corporate social responsibility purposes.

He told the court that he was surprised from previous testimonies by prosecution witnesses that AmBank had allowed Low to deal with his bank accounts, particularly with AmBank relationship manager Joanna Yu.

Najib said this was done without his knowledge or his authorisation.

He added that he did not see any bank statements from those accounts and that he learnt from previous witness testimonies that the statements were kept from him by Yu.

Najib said he was only aware of the cheques that he issued and not of any other transfers of money into other accounts. – December 9, 2019.