The Malaysian Insight

IT was impossible for Najib Razak not to know anything about his bank accounts as he had full access to them, said the prosecution at the SRC International trial during oral submissions today.

Ad hoc prosecutor V. Sithambaram told the Kuala Lumpur High Court that evidentiary documents and communication transripts showed Najib had knowledge of his bank accounts, the balance as well as the credit and debit of the RM42 million.

Najib had five personal AmBank accounts between 2011 and 2015, which SRC International CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil acted as mandate holder.

“I find it fascinating that the accused never looked at his bank accounts once in five years,” said Sithambaram.

“He could obtain a bank statement at any time. The bank statement was not kept from the accused. In fact, the accused kept away from the bank statement.”

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 imprisonment.

Sithambaram further added that it was not possible that 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) intermediary figure Low Taek Jho kept the bank statements away when Najib had full access, at any given time, in those five years.

The lead prosecutor argued that despite arguments by the defence that Low held sway over transaction matters, communications showed that the Penang-born businessman did not need to act surreptitiously without the knowledge of Najib.

In his testimony in December, Najib said he had a “sense” of the accounts because he was updated by either Nik Faisal or his late private secretary Azlin Alias on their balances.

Sithambaram said Najib’s “sense” is actually assurances from Low that funds will be available, even if cheques had been issued from accounts with insufficient balances. 

Sithambaram said Najib issued those cheques only because he believed Low had communicated with AmBank relationship manager Joanna Yu, who managed Najib’s accounts, to ensure the bank will not dishonour the cheques issued.

In the prosecution’s written reply to the defence’s submission, sighted by The Malaysian Insight, the prosecution further argued that AmBank has been known to allow funds to be replenished at a later date, either via inter-account transfers or cash deposits.

Prosecutors said if Najib’s testimony – that he acted on a “sense” of his bank accounts – is to be believed, it meant that the former finance minister deliberately did not want to know the balance of his accounts and only occasionally checked with Azlin on the balance of those accounts. 

“But even if he could not get hold of Azlin to confirm, he would nevertheless still issue cheques worth millions from his ‘sense’ that funds are available to him.

“This can only be the action of a man who knew his account balance. It would be outrageous for a prime minister and finance minister to simply issue cheques based on his gut feelings,” the prosecution argued.

Blaming Jho Low illogical

Meanwhile, Sithambaram said further evidence showed that Najib had treated SRC International funds as his own, that he had personal interest in SRC International and that “the so-called Arab donation (was) a scam”.

The lead prosecutor also criticised the defence’s argument that Low was involved with “rogue bankers” to cheat Najib.

“Surprisingly, the accused was being cheated to receive and to spend millions of ringgit. This befuddles logical thinking,” he said. 

Sithambaram argued whatever manipulation purportedly done by Low was only to ensure funds were available for Najib to utilise as and when he deems fit.

In fact, evidence showed that Low was behind the remittance of some RM136 million Najib’s bank accounts between 2014 and early 2015. The money was subsequently spent by Najib via issuances of cheques for political activites, corporate social responsibility programmes and personal expenditures, including holidays abroad.

“It has always been the prosecution’s case that Low was bank-rolling the accused’s three bank accounts with the knowledge of the accused and the question of Low manipulating the accounts of the accused is a defence which is unsupported by any evidence,” said Sithambaram. 

Najib faces seven criminal charges for receiving RM42 million in SRC International funds between December 2014 and February 2015.

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, the Pekan MP faces up to 20 years imprisonment.

Najib, who turns 67 next month, is represented by a dozen lawyers led by Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.

The trial is in its final stage, with both defence and prosecution presenting their oral submissions. Presiding judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali will later fix a date to deliver his verdict. – June 3, 2020.