NAJIB Razak’s credit cards were used in Italy, Hawaii and Bangkok in 2014 and early 2015, incurring close to RM4 million in debt, which was settled with payments from the former prime minister’s AmBank current account, the court heard today.

The prosecution’s 47th witness, Yeoh Eng Leong, who is AmBank senior vice-president in charge of credit card authorisation and fraud management, said that at least a dozen transactions were paid with a Visa Platinum credit card and a Mastercard Platinum credit card.

Notably, Najib’s credit card incurred 10 charges amounting to €750,000 (RM3.3 million) in August 8, 2014, at an Italian branch of Swiss-owned jewellers, De Grisogono.

On December 22, 2014, US$130,627 (RM466,330) was charged for purchases at luxury boutique Chanel in Honolulu, Hawaii.

On August 13, 2014, RM3,282,734.16 in credit card debt was settled with a payment from an AmBank account ending 880, which had been confirmed to belong to Najib earlier in the trial.

Yeoh’s testimony today also corroborated AmBank manager R. Uma Devi’s statement in April, whereby RM449,586.95 was paid out to the Visa Platinum credit card and the remaining RM2,833,147.21 to the Mastercard Platinum credit card.

On February 5, 2015, a further RM466,330 was paid to the Visa card from the account ending in 880 for the Chanel expenditure.

A payment of RM127,017 was also made for a stay at the Shangri-la Bangkok in January 4, 2015.

When questioned by deputy public prosecutor Budiman Lufti Mohamed on whether there had been any complaints of unlawful transactions from Najib, Yeoh replied in the negative. 

Najib’s charges are linked to RM4 billion in loans issued to the entity, for which he is accused of receiving RM42 million in his personal accounts in 2014 and 2015.

He faces three counts of criminal breach of trust, three counts of money laundering and one count of abuse of power.

The 66-year-old is represented by a dozen lawyers, led by Muhammad Shafee Abdullah. Attorney-General Tommy Thomas leads the prosecution, while Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali presides. – July 15, 2019.