The Malaysian Insight

NAJIB Razak maintained that he could not confirm whether it was his signature on SRC International-related documents during his trial at Kuala Lumpur High Court today.

The former prime minister said the signatures looked like his, but added that he was too busy running the country, having to deal with large amounts of documents on a daily basis.

As such, he could not recall certain documents the prosecution alleged he signed, he told the court during cross examination in his SRC International trial today.

Among the documents in question was Minister of Finance Inc minutes dated February 17, 2012, which bore Najib’s signature approving the second RM2 billion loan to SRC International.

When cross-examined by ad hoc prosecutor V. Sithambaram, Najib acknowledged there were discrepancies between what he told the court in his witness statement and what he had told investigators from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission two years ago.

He said when he was shown the documents during MACC questioning, he was only shown the documents “secara ringkas (briefly)”, when he confirmed that they bore his signature.

Sithambaram then asked Najib if he recalled signing the document, to which Najib said he could not recall as it was nearly a decade ago.

“I sign dozens of documents every day. I was running the country. There were a 1,001 things to do, I can’t remember them all,” Najib said.

The former prime minister maintained that some documents were forged and told Sithambaram to use the word “purportedly” when asking questions.

Sithambaram: I am asking a very simple question.

Najib: It (the question) has to be technically correct. This is a court of law, it has to be correct.

Sithambaram: I don’t want to argue with you. I put it to you that at the time you signed this witness statement, you were already aware that you have made the statement to the MACC.

Najib: Yes.

Sithambaram: I am putting it to you, sir, despite knowing that you already made the MACC statement, you still proceeded to state that P501 is not the document that you signed at the material time.

Najib: I didn’t qualify (my reply) but I wanted to explain further.

Najib then maintained that he may have made the statement, saying the documents were approved by him because he mistook a forgery for an original.

Najib: I didn’t know it wasn’t the original as the signature looked like mine. I was not aware of the scams that were going on until I came to court and now I have some doubts about my signature. I was misled by the signature.

Sithambaram: This is the same tune you’ve been singing, like a broken record. I put it to you were not misled by the signature, you are misleading the court.

Najib: No, no, no, I disagree.

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

He faces up to 20 years imprisonment, if convicted. The trial, before Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, resumes tomorrow. – January 6, 2020.