MORE than RM3 million was transferred from former prime minister Najib Razak’s AmBank account on August 11, 2014 to pay two credit card bills, the Kuala Lumpur High Court was told today. 

AmBank manager R. Uma Devi, reading from a written statement, testified that a debit instruction was sent to transfer RM449,586.95 from Najib’s account to pay a Visa credit card. 

The balance of RM2,833,147.21 was credited into a Mastercard Platinum credit card, on instruction from former SRC International director and CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil.

Uma Devi had earlier told the court that Najib had five accounts at AmBank and he had authorised Nik Faisal to handle three of the accounts, including the cheque books.

Uma Devi, however, did not name who the credit cards belonged to.

Najib sat in the dock while Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali presided over the trial.

The former Umno president, dressed in a brown suit, was represented by his lead counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah. Attorney-General Tommy Thomas leads the prosecution and appeared for the afternoon hearing.

In his opening statement on the first day of trial on April 3, Thomas said prosecutors intend to provide evidence that in December 2014, Najib’s credit card was charged US$130,625 (approximately RM456,000 then) for expenses made at Chanel, an exclusive fashion store in Honolulu.

Uma, who read from a 130-page statement, will return tomorrow to conclude her testimony.

Today, she also testified Najib had opened and closed five accounts with AmBank at its Raja Chulan branch in Kuala Lumpur between January 13, 2011 and March 9, 2015.

She said AmBank relationship manager Krystle Yap had sent an email dated December 24, 2014, asking the branch to abide by an order letter from SRC International to transfer RM40 million to Gandingan Mentari.

Najib is facing three counts of criminal breach of trust, three counts of money-laundering and one count of abuse of power over funds amounting to RM42 million linked to SRC International.

The trial has adjourned to tomorrow. – April 24, 2019.