SRC International’s five-man board of directors traveled to Switzerland in 2013 to confirm that the government entity’s deposit of RM1.5 billion was still with a bank there, the high court heard today.

The bank in question was BSI Ltd, headquartered in Lugano and now known as EFG International.

Former board chairman Ismee Ismail told the Kuala Lumpur High Court that he travelled with fellow directors Suboh Yassin, Che Abdullah@Rashidi Che Omar, Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi and Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, who was also CEO.

The money held at BSI was part of SRC International’s first loan of RM2 billion made out by Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP) in August 2011, which was to allow the government entity to invest in natural resources, such as minerals.

Another RM300 million was deposited at Julius Baer Group in Hong Kong while the remaining was kept within Malaysia to pay for SRC’s operations.  

When questioned by the prosecution, Ismee said the board was “comforted” when they met with BSI’s senior management.

He said previously, none of the board members had traveled to Switzerland to check on its deposit.

Ismee said the visit was initiated by SRC International’s “management” and was unsure if its then principal company 1Malaysia Development Bhd approved the trip.

Earlier, Ismee told the court that Nik Faisal had met Najib on September 7, 2011. It was at this meeting that Ismee alleged that the duo decided on where the money would be deposited.

Ismee added that the minutes were later seized by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

Defence counsel Harvinderjit Singh objected to the inclusion of the evidence, saying that his client (Najib) had refuted its authenticity, calling it a “fake document”.

He added the defence only received a copy of the document on May 17 this year.

Ad-hoc prosecutor V. Sithambaram had argued that the minutes was admissible under the Anti-Money Laundering Act or the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act.

After deliberation, Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali ruled that the minutes should be marked ID, or for identification purposes, without being filed yet as evidence. – June 10, 2019.