NAJIB Razak’s SRC International trial enters its seventh day today, with hearing scheduled to begin in the afternoon as the defence has a prior court engagement for another of the former prime minister’s legal battles.

The appellate court this morning heard Najib’s appeal against a high court’s dismissal of his application to disqualify Gopal Sri Ram from leading the prosecution team in his 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) cases.

Following a request by lead counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, today’s SRC International trial will likely see “less complicated” witness testimonies as the defence is still going through emails between AmBank managers and key 1MDB figures.

The emails, in hardcopy form, were seized by Bank Negara Malaysia investigating officer Ahmad Farhan Sharifuddin, who testified again yesterday.

Other prosecution witnesses who took the stand yesterday were two Umno leaders, a shelter home trustee and a handyman, who said they received more than RM800,000 in cheques originating from Najib’s AmBank account.

The Malaysian Insight brings you today’s proceedings live:

4.55pm: Deputy public prosecutor V Sithambaram apologises as the prosecution has “exhausted” the witness list.

Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali Nazlan adjourns the hearing to 9am tomorrow.

4.54pm: Wong is released. He shakes Najib’s hand before leaving the court room.

4.53pm: Wong said the Ah Jib Gor Facebook page had predominantly Chinese followers. It provided a platform between the former prime minister and the Chinese community. The responses gathered via the page was also used to analyse sentiments among the Chinese community.

4.51pm: Shafee: Lim made payments back to back. One is AD Network.

Wong: They are for Ah Jib Gor Facebook page.

Shafee: Then the Chinese weekly?

Wong: They found they needed some objective articles, so not everything is seen in a negative light. To project the government’s policies for the correct purpose.

4.48pm: Shafee: Tell us about the grassroots jobs that this Tan Sri (Lim Soon Peng) was doing.

Wong: To mobilise old folks home and Chinese temples.

Shafee: Is this important?

Wong: It is very important to us (the government).

4.44pm: Shafee begins cross-examination.

4.43pm: Saifuddin: Did you check with Lim Soon Peng if the payment was cleared?

Wong: I didn’t.

4.41pm: The payments were for Lim to pay to AD Network, which runs Ah Jib Gor Facebook account, and Akademi Kewartawan & Informasi Taima, for Chinese news sites.

4.37pm: Saifuddin: When did you receive the cheque?

Wong: Cannot recall. Should be around the date of the cheque.

Saifuddin: This particular cheque was signed in front of you?

Wong: Yes.

Wong confirmed Lim’s phone number was on the back of the cheque and the account number belongs to Lim.

4.35pm: Wong describes Lim as having “direct contact with the grassroots”.

4.33pm: Saifuddin: During your tenure, do you know of Lim Soon Peng?

Wong: Yes.

Saifuddin: When did you know about him?

Wong: After I took the job in Putrajaya.

Saifuddin: Is he a businessman or political person?

Wong: He is a businessman.

Lim was named as the recipient of cheque of RM238,914 issued on February 12, 2015.

4.29pm: The 17^th witness former political secretary to Najib, Wong Nai Chee, 50, takes the stand.

He served as Najib’s political secretary from December 2011 to May 2018. He worked on economic issues, Chinese community issues as well as religious issues.

4.28pm: Onn Hafiz said there were 12 people on the team and that they would decide the editorial content. The site was closed last July.

The witness is excused.

4.27pm: Shafee: Is there anything in the contents that promotes government policy?

Onn Hafiz: Yes.

4.24pm: Onn Hafiz said the web-portal provides alternative news.

“We want to give a balanced news for the general public. And combat fake news.”

4.21pm: Shafee: What is this relationship between this web portal and Vital Spire?

Onn Hafiz confirms the owner of the web portal is Vital Spire but it is not registered.

4.20pm: Shafee begins cross-examination.

Shafee to Onn: You have to speak louder. This is for recording purpose. Don’t be worried, just answer truthfully.

4.17pm: Saifuddin: What is the purpose of the website?

Onn Hafiz: The purpose of the website is to disseminate news.

Saifuddin: The orders to set up the website from whom?

Onn Hafiz: It was set up on the direction of Najib.

Onn Hafiz: I met him in PM’s office.

Saifuddin: Met him alone or in a group?

Onn Hafiz: Alone.

Saifuddin: So when you met Najib and received the cheque, what happened?

Onn Hafiz: I banked in.

Saifuddin: The cheque was cleared?

Onn Hafiz: Yes.

4.13pm: Onn Hafiz confirms receiving a cheque of RM240,000 on January 30, 2015 made to Vital Spire. He said the cheque was cashed at the CIMB branch in Bukit Damansara, where his company is located.

Vital Spire had received the money for the running of the website MalaysianDigest.com.

Onn Hafiz: It is a new portal and it covers international and local news., as well as business, entertainment and sports on a daily basis

4.11pm: The 16^th witness 16 Onn Hafiz, 41, takes the stand. He is a Johor Umno politician and great grandson of Onn Jaafar.

He owns shares at Vital Spire, a company that provides motivational and leadership courses.

4.07pm: Shafee established Marcus was in charge of the Putatan division at the time. Shafee has no further questions. Marcus goes to shake Najib’s hand after he is excused.

4.01pm: Shafee begins cross-examination.

4pm: Marcus: It was written in front of me in the Prime Minister’s Office in Putrajaya.

Saifuddin: Does that include the name, amount and date?

Marcus: Yes.

Marcus said the money was used to pay for party activities, adding the component party had informed the coalition leadership there was not enough money to run programmes.

Saifuddin: In 2015, did you receive any financial aid from any party?

Marcus: Yes. At that time, we frequently had meetings. One of it is to help the public through Project Sayang but we did not have enough funds. So, we received help from Najib.

Saifuddin: So, this RM1 million were used for Project Sayang.

Marcus: Yes.

3.55pm: Marcus Mojigoh told deputy public prosecutor Saifuddin that he received RM1 million on February 13, 2015 from Najib.

“I received this cheque personally from ‘bossku’ in the PM’s office.”

3.45pm: Former vice-president of Upko Marcus Mojigoh takes the stand. He is former Putatan MP before losing his seat in the May 9 election last year

3.42pm: Shafee concludes his cross-examination. Prosecution say they have no further questions. The witness is excused.

3.42pm: Shafee: Of your finding, analysis – the government took certain measures based on your studies?

Sim: We do give the analysis, but if they take the advice, it is not sure.

3.41pm: Shafee asks if Sim has a son in the police force, to which Sim confirms this. Sim said she is uncertain whether the government take the advice given in their reports.

Sim recalls that one action the government took was to increase the funding for vernacular schools.

3.40pm: Shafee: Are you nationalistic?

Sim: I am Malaysian.

3.38pm: Shafee: Did you understand that it was important for Barisan Nasional to understand the Chinese dissatisfaction with the government (then)? Do you agree?

Sim: I think they are concerned with every (segment) The Chinese community is part of the Malaysian community.

Shafee: You sent a report to the PM?

Sim: No. Only to the PM media office.

Shafee: Who did you send it to? Anyone in particular?

Sim: We just sent it to the PMO media office.

3.34pm: Shafee: Was there an MCA person, I think by the name of Fui or Hui, who participated in the discussions?

Sim: I think there was a think-tank… I’m sorry I cannot remember.

Shafee: You can remember a person by the name of Fui. F-U-I?

Sim: Surname please?

Shafee: That’s all I have.

Sim: I’m sorry I can’t remember.

3.32pm: Shafee: When you met Najib, was it in the presence of Jamaluddin Jarjis?

Sim: Yes. Jamaluddin wanted to know what affected the Chinese community, why they appear to be anti-government.

Shafee: Who were you dealing with, in the PM Department? Was there an officer to deal with the Chinese issues?

Sim: I don’t deal with that. I was there to do the media analysis and pass the information to the PMO.

3.31pm: Sim tells the court she was executive-director of Sin Chew Daily. She said she was involved in a merger of three Chinese newspapers in Malaysia and Hong Kong.

She said she was hired by Jamaluddin to figure out the issues affecting the Chinese community. She said one way was to monitor the Chinese dailies and the Chinese websites.

She said 8 to 10 people would be tasked with such a project.

3.27pm: Sim said she still runs the company today. She also said she has a postgraduate degree in Chinese linguistics and was educated in the UK.

3.27pm: Shafee begins cross-examination.

3.25pm: Witness is asked if she has met Najib.

Sim: Yes, but always with a group of people.

3.20pm: Sim: We invoice a bill every month and we are paid monthly.

Saifuddin: In 2015, did the company receive any payment for work done?

Sim: Yes. It was RM150k per month, for December 2014 and January 2015.

Saifuddini: Payment in what form?

Sim: Deposited in our bank account.

Saifuddin shows her a cheque to confirm whether it is a cheque issued to her company.

Sim confirms receiving a cheque of RM300,000. She confirms her phone number is written at the back of the cheque. She also confirms the account number is her company’, with RHB Bank in Bangsar.

3.19pm: Sim: The six Chinese dailies being monitored were Sin Chew Daily, Nanyang Siang Pau, China Press, Guang Ming Daily, Kwong Wah Jit Poh and Oriental Daily. The instructions were given to us by the late Jamaluddin Jarjis.

3.16pm: Deputy Public Prosecutor Muhammad Saifuddin Hashim Musaimi: Does your company do any survey or research for PM’s Office?

Sim: Yes

Saifuddin: What kind of work

Sim: We did Chinese medium monitoring services. We send this daily analysis to the media office of the PMO via email.

3.13pm: The 14^th witness, Rita Sim, director of Center for Strategic Engagement, is called to the stand. Her company does survey, public policy research and Chinese media monitoring services.

3.09pm: Shafee: What is the normal practice when you ask for funds? What is the threshold?

Ahmad Sahar: I was told to request when the account reaches a minimum of RM50,000. We would then request from Umno Malaysia. This is a normal practice, told to do by Zainal Abidin.

The witness is shown an exhibit by the defence for a cheque of RM1 million made to Penang Umno from Umno Malaysia in 2014. Ahmad Shar confirms its authenticity. The witness is then excused.

3.04pm: Shafee: Can you confirm that this type of money transfer, to fund party activities, is a normal occurrence?
Ahmad Sahar: Yes

2.59pm: Ahmad Sahar said he was questioned by MACC in July 2015. He added the money was for administration purposes, such as salaries, welfare programmes, disaster relief funding, assistance to orphans, education purposes and Raya activities, as well as funding party programmes.

The programmes in 2015 alone cost the division RM1.5 million. In the event of insufficient funds, Zainal Abidin would make another request to the headquarters.

2.57pm: Shafee begins cross-examination.

2.54pm: Ahmad Sahar told the court the request for party funding was done via the late Penang Umno chief Zainal Abidin Osman.

He said on February 26, 2015, Penang Umno received RM1 million although RM2 million was requested, referring to one of the 17 cheques in question.

Zainal Abidin had passed away from blood cancer last August, months after he stepped down as Penang Umno chief.

2.52pm: Deputy Public Prosecutor Muhammad Saifuddin Hashim Musaimi questions the witness.

2.46pm: Permatang Pauh Umno division secretary Ahmad Sahar Shuib, 56, is called to the stand. He is also Penang Umno division liaison executive secretary since 2009.

2.44pm: Court is in session. The proceeding was delayed from noon on request from the defence, as Najib’s lawyers were tied up with the Court of Appeal hearing in Putrajaya.

Justice Mohd Nazlan Ghazali had asked defence team earlier this afternoon: “Are you prepared to go beyond 5pm?”, to which lawyers replied in the affirmative.

2.42pm: Najib arrives in the court room.

2.32pm: Shafee arrives at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

2.14pm: Hearing has been postponed to 2.30pm.

12.10pm: Hearing to begin at 2pm. – April 23, 2019.