NAJIB Razak’s SRC International trial enters its 19th day today with the defence continuing its cross-examination of the 37th witness, Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd managing director Dr Shamsul Anwar Sulaiman.

Shamsul, who ran SRC International’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm, told the court on May 15 that he did not know Najib was the recipient of RM42 million funnelled through Ihsan Perdana in 2014 and 2015.

Had he known it was Najib, he told the court he would not have approved the transfers to those accounts in December 2014 and February 2015.

Shamsul also asked Ihsan Perdana financial director Abdul Aziz Ismail and the latter said he didn’t know that Najib was the recipient of the RM42 million.

He added that he didn’t know from where the money originated.

Aishah Ghazali, a former senior accounts executive at Ihsan Perdana, testified earlier that the money came from Gandingan Mentari, a subsidiary of SRC International.

Shamsul said he met with Dennis See Thuan Buan, who was project director at Yayasan Rakyat 1Malaysia (YR1M), for which Ihsan Perdana also carried out CSR work.

See told him that the company account would be used as a “transit” stop for RM40 million on December 24, 2014.

“I asked for further details from (See) but he did not give any further explanation and refused to provide the details that I wanted,” Shamsul said. 

He then made a bank transfer to Najib’s AmBank account ending in -880 for RM27 million two days later, on December 26, 2014.

“I made the payment into the (Najib’s) account even though I was not sure of the true purpose because I was following instructions from (YR1M CEO) Ung Su Ling and (See),” Shamsul had said, adding that Najib never contacted him regarding the RM27 million. 

The court previously heard that some RM7.2 million was remitted from Najib’s personal bank accounts in early 2015 to 14 recipients, including construction, home renovation and plumbing companies; Umno operatives in Johor, Selangor and Penang; Sabah Barisan Nasional political party Upko; and, a pro-BN online news portal.

Najib, 66, faces three counts of criminal breach of trust, three counts of money-laundering and one count of abuse of power. He faces up to 20 years’ jail if convicted.

The former Umno president will be represented by Harvindejit Singh in today’s proceedings as lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah has another matter in a different court. Shafee is expected to be back in the afternoon.

Attorney-General Tommy Thomas is leading the prosecution, while justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali is presiding over the trial.

The Malaysian Insight brings you today’s proceedings live:

3.58pm: Questioning for the day is done. Judge Nazlan adjourns proceedings to 9am tomorrow morning.

3.55pm: She continues her statement on the second loan, saying KWAP’s fixed income department had sought the investment panel’s approval to give the payment out in one lump sum instead of in progress payments.

3.52pm: Going back to an earlier part of her statement on meeting Najib at his office, the DPP asks Azian what she remembers from the meeting.

She says she does not remember what was discussed at the meeting with Najib.

3.45pm: She says the investment panel met on March 20, 2012, and approved the loan based on the same terms as the first loan.

She says Nik Faisal emailed her on March 22, 2012 with the supporting documents for the RM2 billion loan approval attached.

3.40pm: An investment paper was then prepared for the panel to decide if an additional RM2 billion should be given to SRC based on the terms and conditions set in the first loan agreement, which would have a government guarantee as well.

The investment paper stated that the finance minister (Najib) had approved the request and advised SRC to get the funds from KWAP, seeing as to how it had approved the first loan.

3.36pm: She says on March 13, 2012, KWAP received another letter from SRC requesting an additional RM2 billion loan from KWAP signed by SRC CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil.

3.30pm: Azian begins going through the loan approval process and identifying key documents as evidence.

3.15pm: She says on August 22 that year, the Finance Ministry also furnished her a letter sanctioning the RM2 billion to be given to KWAP.

KWAP then gave SRC an offer letter for RM2 billion, according to the terms and conditions set by the investment panel. She says she signed the letter herself.

3.04pm: The DPP asks her how the RM1 billion proposal to be approved by the panel rose to RM2 billion.

She says she cannot recall when the request for RM2 billion was made, only that she was told by the chairman to expedite the RM2 billion approval.

She says she recalls receiving a letter from SRC on August 12, 2011, requesting that the RM2 billion go straight to SRC instead of 1MDB as SRC is under 1MDB, which had government backing.

3.02pm: She says after deliberating, the panel approved a RM2 billion loan to 1MDB and not SRC International. The approval was based on KWAP’s support of the government’s strategic initiatives. She says the condition was that KWAP would give the loans to the government, and the government would give the money to 1MDB.

She adds that she informed the investment panel that the prime minister had told the KWAP chairman to hasten the loan approval process and that RM2 billion was sufficient.

2.56pm: She says the panel made the following recommendations: 

1) RM2 billion was too much to give a company with an initial model of RM2. They agreed to give RM1 billion only. 

2) The members agreed to give the money to 1MDB as it was wholly owned by MKD and not to SRC. This was because 1MDB had better financial management discipline and was supervised by MKD.

3) The panel was worried about the aforementioned risks if it had given the loans to SRC. 

4) The panel questioned the intention of SRC to invest in raw materials, which needed a lot of expertise. 

5) The panel also said the payment should not be doled out in a lump sum.

2.51pm: Continuing her testimony, Azian says that another panel meeting was held on July 19, 2011. At the meeting, the terms and conditions of the loans were tightened, such as getting a guarantee from the government.

2.48pm: She is asked why Najib had to be informed of the matter. 

She replies that she felt they had a duty to inform Najib as the letter that she had received had stated that they wanted RM3.95 billion, but the proposal was only for RM1 billion, adding this is just her opinion.

2.45pm: She says after the meeting, Amirul had prepared an investment paper for RM2 billion for the purpose of working capital and general investments.

2.41pm: Azian is asked why the proposal was delayed instead of rejected. 

She says this was to give SRC an opportunity to furnish information, adding it was not uncommon for the panel to ask for more information should it feel the need.

She says an individual on the panel had suggested that Najib be informed personally about the fact that it was only studying a RM1 billion loan approval. 

She states she and Wan Abdul had gone to see Najib personally at the Prime Minister’s Office, but does not remember the exact date of the meeting.

2.40pm: Harvinderjit objects to the line of questioning by the DPP, saying he is “beating around the bush”.

Ishak replies by saying that he has his own style of questioning.

2.33pm: She says she was present at an investment panel meeting chaired by Wan Abdul on July 5, 2011.

In the meeting, it was decided that KWAP would delay approving the loan until they received more information about SRC International.

2.28pm: Azian says that KWAP’s former assistant vice-president Amirul Imran Ahmat, who previously testified as a witness, prepared a RM1 billion investment paper for the panel. She says that the paper was only prepared for RM1 billion after taking into consideration payment risks, risks to the country, industry risks and overconcentration.

She begins reading excerpts of the investment paper to the court.

2.21pm: Prosecution lawyer Ishak Mohd Yusoff begins questioning Azian.

2.19pm: She says because she was unable to properly examine the contents of the letter in detail at that time, she took it home before handing over the letter to KWAP chairman Dr Wan Abdul Aziz Wan Abdullah the next day. 

He had said that he was aware of the loan as Najib had told him about it. He had said that KWAP’s investment panel would study the request.

2.16pm: When asked to identify Najib in court, Azian says she can’t see him. After a while, she says she can see him seated in the dock.

She says when Azlin had given her the letter, she had read it, including Najib’s footnote.

2.15pm: Azian says she had known Azlin for almost two years.

She says in the letter, signed by Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil as SRC director, there was a footnote that stated “I agree with this proposal”, which was dated June 5 and signed by Najib.

She says that to her knowledge, the term “agree with this proposal” means the prime minister agreed that KWAP should give SRC RM4 billion.

2.09pm: She says in 2011, she received an originating letter from SRC dated June 3, 2011, from the late Azlin Alias, who was special officer to Najib. She says she knew him as they had worked together before. She was asked to meet him at a hotel lobby in KL Sentral at night. She says that the letter was signed by Azlin, adding that Azlin had told her that Najib had approved the loan.

She says the letter was prepared by SRC and and addressed Najib as the prime minister and finance minister as the receiver of a RM3.95 billion loan for investments.

2.05pm: She says when she was CEO, she was aware that there was a request from SRC International Sdn Bhd for a loan of RM2 billion in 2011 and another request for RM2 billion in 2012.

She says KWAP approved both loans amounting to RM4 billion, with RM2 billion approved in 2011 and the other half in 2012, to SRC.

2.02pm: She says KWAP’s loans and private debt securities’ section analyse any and all investment requests before they are brought to its investment panel. 

1.55pm: The trial resumes with former Retirement Fund Incorporated (KWAP) CEO Azian Mohd Noh taking the stand. She begins by reading a statement prepared with the help of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.

She says that when she was a KWAP CEO, her role was to ensure that investments made sufficient returns.

She explains KWAP’s role as well as the processes and guidelines for investments to be made.

12.43pm: Court adjourns for prayers.

12.42pm: Shamsul says he only discovered SRC had parked its funds in Ihsan Perdana’s accounts through a news report.

12.30pm: Harvinderjit goes through Ihsan Perdana’s transactions, as mentioned in Shamsul’s statement.

He asks Shamsul where the instructions to transfer money to Mail Global Resources came from. Shamsul replies that the directives came mostly from Ung and See.

11:57am: Shamsul says he only knew about the RM40 million a few days before the money was transferred to the account (on December 24, 2014).

11:41am: Shamsul says if he had known the name of the private accounts the money went in, he would have called the account holder to verify.

He also tried to find out to whom the accounts belonged.

Harvinderjit: If you had known that the accounts belonged to the sitting prime minister Najib, would you have called him to clarify and verify the money going into the account?

Shamsul: Of course, I would have.

11:34am: Harvinderjit goes through Ihsan Perdana’s main account’s (1108) financial statement from September 2014 to April 2015.

He asks Shamsul if he knew that RM20 million was credited to the account on September 11, 2014, to which the latter replies, “No”.

11:32am: Harvinderjit asks Shamsul if he knows Mail Global Resources, to which he replies, “No”.

11:20am: Some of the charities are Vitamin 1Malaysia (RM9.5 million); Ihsan Ramadan and Aidilfitri (RM22.5 million); Masjid Jamek-Kg Baru project (RM6 million) to restore and renovate the area; Project Kilat (RM582,500); Cergas Ceria (RM10 million); and project H20 to supply water in Sabah and Sarawak (RM29.5 million).

Shamsul says project H20 was special as it helped people in rural villages get water supply.

Harvinderjit: When you do these projects, do you carry the BN and Umno flags around?

Shamsul: No, never, we never did that.

11:16am: Harvinderjit now quickly goes through various CSR programmes carried out by Ihsan Perdana.

11:13am: The judge allows Harvinderjit to carry out his questioning but asks him to be concise.  

11:11am: The judge asks Harvinderjit how his line of questioning is relevant.

Harvinderjit replies that it is necessary to give a picture on how Ihsan Perdana is run. He also wants to show that the CSR projects carried out were political because that is what the witness statement suggests.

11:10am: Harvinderjit says he can do no more than refer to the witness statement, which states that these projects were necessary.

Sithambaram says the witness is called to introduce the role of his job.  

11:09am: Prosecutor V. Sithambaram interjects the cross-examination, saying that the line of questioning is far removed from the charges levelled against the accused.

He says the questioning is not relevant and asks the judge to make a ruling.

11:07am: Another programme is Jalinan Murni in which RM8.5 million was allocated. It was to help Orang Asli in rural areas, mainly to provide solar electricity.

The needy families for both charities were identified by state district officers, Shamsul says.

11:05am: Shamsul says RM37 million was allocated for a charity programme called Nadi Kasih dealing with repair works on houses in rural and kampung areas.

He says this was done all over the country, regardless of whether the state was run by the opposition or government.

10.58am: Court resumes with Harvinderjit going through Ihsan Perdana’s audited financial statements with the witness.

10.35am: Harvinderjit seeks a 10-minute break, which Nazlan grants.

10.33am: Harvinderjit asks if they undertook any real projects.

Harvinderjit: On a big picture, how many people do you think you helped?

Shamsul: I would say we helped about 5,000 households nationwide.

Harvinderjit: Do you have proof of this?

Shamsul: Yes, we do.

Harvinderjit: All the money you received in the grant was used for charity?

Shamsul: Yes.

Harvinderjit: If they had asked you to take the money from the grant and give it to politicians, could you do that?

Shamsul: No, I didn’t get any instruction. It depends on who instructs.

Harvinderjit: Generally, you are in charge of the money from the foundation?

Shamsul: Yes.

10.26am: Harvinderjit asks if the charity programmes carried out by Ihsan Perdana were in any way political in nature.

Shamsul replies in the negative.

Harvinderjit: Did anything in the letter state use the money for Umno and BN?

Shamsul: No, it was just used for charitable works.

10.20am: Harvinderjit goes through grant letters 1MDB had given Ihsan Perdana, with the witness asked to verify them.

10.10am: Shamsul says it was (former LTAT chief executive) Lodin who suggested The Curve as Ihsan Perdana’s office.

The office was just enough to house 22 employees.

10.05am: Harvinderjit asks Shamsul the reason for having three bank accounts.

The witness replies that it was suggested by (finance director) Abdul Aziz Ismail and he just agreed with the suggestion.

9.54am: Harvinderjit shows Shamsul some documents and asks if he can identify them.

9.40am: Harvinderjit questions Shamsul on the repair works carried out on houses in Johor as part of 1MDB’s CSR works. Earlier, the witness said Ung Su Ling was introduced to him as the CEO of Yayasan Rakyat 1 Malaysia, adding that Dennis See is Ung’s cousin.

9.38am: Harvinderjit identifies three other witnesses for the benefit of the court. They are former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi, former Armed Forces Fund Board (LTAT) chief executive Lodin Wok Kamaruddin and and Ihsan Perdana’s finance director Abdul Aziz Ismail.

9.29am: Earlier, former 1Malaysia Development Bhd CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi was spotted in the Duta court complex. It is unknown if he will take the stand as a witness at some point.

9.28am: Proceedings begin. Witness Dr Shamsul Anwar Sulaiman is on the witness stand and is cross-examined by Harvinderjit.

Harvinderjit also informs judge Nazlan that Shafee is not present as he is attending to other matters in the Federal Court.

9.10am: Najib arrives in court and makes his way up to the courtroom. – May 28, 2019.