NAJIB Razak’s SRC International trial enters its 27th day today, with the 39th witness, former SRC International board chairman Ismee Ismail returning to the stand, likely for the final time.

Defence counsel Harvinderjit Singh told the Kuala Lumpur High Court yesterday that Najib’s legal team would likely wrap up its cross-examination of the witness, who has been testifying since last Monday, by morning.

Yesterday, Ismee told the court that the board was kept in the dark regarding SRC International’s second credit facility of RM2 billion, alleged to have been carried out by its CEO Nik Faisal Arff Kamil in early 2012.

Ismee agreed with the defence’s contention that Nik Faisal and former director Suboh Md Yassin, without the board’s knowledge, initiated a RM140 million venture between SRC International subsidiary Gandingan Mentari and Putra Perdana Construction for a mining project in South America.

SRC International subsidiary Gandingan Mentari was involved in the deal, in which it was to invest RM140 million in a 70-30 venture with Putra Perdana Construction.

The latter is a subsidiary of Putrajaya Perdana Sdn Bhd, a construction and property development company formerly controlled by financier Low Taek Jho.  

Low’s name cropped up at court yesterday, when Harvinderjit asked Ismee whether he knew if Low was a “close associate” of 1MDB finance director Terrence Geh, who was also SRC International’s company secretary.

Ismee, who chaired the board from 2011 to 2014, said he is only now “aware” of Geh because of news reports and the trial itself.

He said the same about Nik Faisal’s relationship with Low, as well as former 1MDB executive director of business development Casey Tang Keng Chee.

Najib’s lawyers maintain that the former prime minister was misled by bankers in charge of government-linked accounts who cooperated with individuals, such as Low, to acquire funds from SRC International, possibly with the assistance of senior officers within SRC International.

Najib’s charges in this trial relate to the RM4 billion loan to SRC International made out in 2011 and 2012, for which he is accused of receiving RM42 million in his 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.

Najib, 66, is represented by a dozen lawyers led by Muhammad Shafee Abdullah. Attorney-General Tommy Thomas leads the prosecution while justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali presides over the trial.

The Malaysian Insight brings you today’s proceedings live:

4.20pm: Shafee asks that the cross examination be continued tomorrow until the code of ethics is at hand.

Sithambaram then asks for the court to be adjourned.

Mohd Nazlan agrees and adjourns the court to tomorrow morning.

4.08pm: Shafee says he needs the code of ethics before he can continue his cross examination. The prosecution and defence have agreed to try and get it tomorrow morning.

4.07pm: She says she was not aware of Najib’s vested interest about the KWAP RM4 billion loan to SRC International and the RM100 million short-term loan approved by cabinet.

4.05pm: Shafee: Now that you know he is an advisor to SRC International by virtue of being the prime minister. Would you know if that is an interest?

Sithambaram interjects and says the question is unfair. Mohd Nazlan says Shafee’s questioning is ok but they can clarify later.

Mazidah: In my line of duty, if there is a conflict of interest, I will refer it to the Attorney-General’s Chambers. But I didn’t know so I didn’t refer it to them.

4.04pm: She says the secretariat did not know that Najib was advisor emeritus to SRC International.

4pm: She says the chief secretary attended all cabinet meetings.

Shafee asks if the chief secretary has the power to advise a minister if there is a conflict of interest.

She says he can advise the minister if the chief secretary is aware of it.

3.53pm: Shafee asks her who advises a minister that they should leave a cabinet meeting if they have vested interest in the discussion.

She says a minister would leave on his own volition.

“In all my years in cabinet, the ministers will leave by themselves. Sometimes, other ministers would point it out in the meeting that a particular minister had vested interest or the secretariat would inform the minister.”

3.51pm: Shafee asks her to detail why the three ministers left cabinet meetings on three different occasions as it is important to his cross examination.

3.48pm: She asks if this will be a breach of the Official Secrets Act.

“If I am allowed to reveal this, I will.”

Sithambaram says it is for the cabinet to decide.

Mohd Nazlan said her statement is hanging.

Shafee says the court can guess why Najib left the meeting when the cabinet was discussing CIMB Bank as Najib’s brother was the bank’s chairman at the time.

3.47pm: Shafee asks her the reason Khairy left the meeting. She says she does not remember but if memory serves, he left because one of his family members was involved in the memorandum being tabled.

3.44pm: Cross examination of the witness begins, led by Shafee.

Mazidah says the declaration of vested interest is in the code of ethics of the ministers.

She says this code was in 1997 and 1998 that was amended in 2013, and she doesn’t have a copy of it the code of ethics with her.

Shafee asks her to bring it if she can as this is the cornerstone of the defence’s cross examination.

3.42pm: She is asked to identify the former chief secretary to the government Ali Hamsa. He came out from the holding room and she promptly identified him. She also identified Najib.

3.39pm: Mazidah is asked by the prosecution if this is a standard practice or put down in writing.

She says it was stated under the administrative members’ section but was changed in 2013.

3.37pm: She says in the past Khairy Jamaluddin as youth and sports minister, Hishammuddin Hussein as defence minister and Najib himself have left meetings when they had vested interest in the memorandums the cabinet was discussing.

Najib left a cabinet meeting on one occasion because the memorandum they were discussing involved CIMB Bank.

3.32pm: She says the cabinet minutes had to be declassified for this case today.

She adds it is normal practice for cabinet members to leave the meeting if they have vested interest in any of the memorandums.

3.25pm: On November 15, 2015, another cabinet meeting was held and chaired by then deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

She says this meeting was called to seek the cabinet’s approval of the minutes taken during the meeting on November 6, 2015.

3.20pm: She says another cabinet meeting was held on November 6, 2015 that was chaired by Najib as prime minister.

Then Najib in his position as finance minister tabled a memorandum seeking a RM100 million short-term loan from the government for a period of one month to pay off interests and late payment penalties known as “bai al-‘inah” to KWAP for the RM4 billion loan that SRC International had received.

The cabinet had agreed to the short-term loan without objection.

3.10pm: She says there was another cabinet meeting on May 16, 2012. Najib did not attend as he was on a work trip to New York.

The then deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin chaired the meeting. The cabinet was going to debate a memorandum “Amendments to the purpose of loans for loans acquired by SRC International and 1MDB Real Estate Sdn Bhd”.

The memorandum was to amend the purpose of SRC International’s loan – “to fund investment activity in natural resources and working capital”.

The other term in the memorandum was an amendment be made to the purpose of 1MDB Real Estate Sdn Bhd to secure a loan from the government.

The original purpose of the loan was changed to: “to fund the cost of installation placement of military equipment in the Sungai Besi air base, which was involved in the Bandar Malaysia project, and other investments in property development”.

The other term was that the prime minister would have the power to amend the terms and conditions of the loans.

2.55pm: According to the minutes of the meeting, Mazidah says, Najib did not state his vested interest in SRC International. She adds that none of the ministers requested for Najib to leave the meeting when the memorandums were brought up.

2.50pm: Mazidah says the memorandum sought to get a tax exemption on the loans for SRC International was in line with the Section 10, of the Loans Guarantee act 1965.

It also gives the prime minister power to determine the terms and conditions of the loan sought by SRC International.

She says there had been no debate about this memorandum among the ministers at the said meeting.

2.40pm: Court is back in session with Mazidah continuing to read her witness statement.

12.57pm: The memorandum concerns the government guaranteeing the interest and principal of the RM2 billion loan obtained by SRC International, with a 10-year tenure.

12.53pm: She said another cabinet meeting on February 8, 2012 had taken place.

Rais Yatim, Nazri Aziz, Hishammuddin Hussein, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi were among the ministers present at this meeting. 

A memorandum tabled by Najib as the minister of finance which was titled “Government guarantee for RM2billion loan given by KWAP for SRC International”.

Najib signed the memorandum.

12.46pm: This (guarantee) was tabled in the form of a memorandum by Najib.

12.42pm: The cabinet discussed giving a government guarantee to SRC International’s loan. Najib had chaired the meeting.

12.36pm: On the meeting’s agenda was the RM2 billion loan that SRC International received from KWAP, the court hears.

12.32pm: Mazidah reads out excerpts of the minutes of a cabinet meeting that took place in 2011. She lists all the ministers who attended the meeting.

12.24pm: Her job is to ensure all procedures and protocols are met during cabinet meetings.

12.19pm: Mazidah said that she had been questioned by MACC on a few occasions.

Her witness statement has been amended a lot.

12.18pm: The DPP tells judge Nazlan that the next witness, Mazidah Abdul Majid, will be reading minutes from cabinet meetings.

As such, the original minutes from cabinet meetings will be brought later this afternoon.

12.15pm: After seven days of questioning from the prosecution and defence, 39th witness Ismee is let go from the witness stand.

12.12pm: Sithambaram asks if Ismee says he acted on the instructions of the prime minister, then how come they didn’t follow them exactly.

Ismee said they tweaked his instructions a bit.

Sithambaram asks if the board ever defied the prime minister’s orders. Ismee disagrees, adding that they never disobeyed his orders.

11.45am: Sithambaram grills Ismee over SRC International’s auditing.

11.11am: Ismee said Najib held the post of chairman in the board of advisers in 1MDB while Jho Low held no position.

Sithambaram asks if Najib is an associate of Jho Low’s. Ismee said he didn’t know.

11.08am: Ismee said the board can’t make decisions without the prime minister’s advice.

11.03am: Sithambaram jokes that the defence started their cross-examination last Monday at 11am and done today at 11am.

He said he will take the same amount of time. The court erupts into laughter.

11.02am: Court adjourns with Ismee taking the stand again. Ad hoc prosecutor Sithambaram examines him now.

10.46am: Shafee ends the cross-examination. Court takes a 10-minute break.

10.44am: Shafee asks if MACC told Ismee indirectly he had committed some offence.

Ismee: I don’t think so. Throughout the course if the investigations, I was questioning myself.

10.41am: Shafee asks Ismee if he was asked to implicate the ultimate shareholder in SRC International while giving his testimony to MACC.

“It is my knowledge that they had ask you to implicate the ultimate shareholder, which is Najib when they took your statement,” Shafee asked.

“No, I don’t think so,” Ismee said.

10.39am: FGV Bhd is also suing Ismee. He was once a director there. He refuses to talk about the case as it is ongoing.

10.35am: Ismee is also being investigated for 1MDB other than SRC International.

Ismee said his accounts were frozen by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission. Shafee tells him that he is also blacklisted under MACC.

Ismee denies receiving any money from Najib after Shafee asks him.

Shafee: Why did they freeze your accounts?

Ismee: I don’t know.

Shafee: Did Najib give you money?

Ismee: No.

10.33am: Ismee said he had three investigations against him involving Tabung Haji.

One was over the use of Tabung Haji funds for political purposes where he was investigated for criminal breach of trust.

The second is a Tabung Haji sale of an oil palm estate in Indonesia in about 2012 or 2013. Ismee was accused of misrepresenting the board over the sale.

The third concerns the acquisition of an oil palm estate in Indonesia.

10.29am: Shafee asks Ismee if the MACC officers were harsh with him when taking his statement. Ismee asks what does he mean by “harsh”?

Shafee then asks him if he’s blacklisted and had his passport taken away.

Ismee said he was blacklisted and his bank accounts frozen.

10.10am: Ismee said when he handed his resignation letter from SRC International’s board to Najib’s secretary, he didn’t complain about Nik Faisal but rather only complained about the company.

He didn’t know if the complaints were escalated to Najib.

9.46am: Ismee confirms that day-to-day work is handled by the management but the CEO is also a board member. Thus he is able to brief the board.

Shafee suggests that Nik Faisal Arif Kamil’s honesty is imperative for the company to function, to which Ismee agrees. During his time as chairman, Ismee said he had no issue trusting Nik Faisal.

9.43am: Rosmah leaves court complex in black Perdana with an aide.

9.39am: DPP V. Sithambaram objects to Rosmah’s presence as she could be called to testify later. She leaves the courtroom.

9.29am: Rosmah Mansor is spotted at the public gallery.

9.27am: Shafee asks how familiar Ismee was with the former prime minister.

Ismee said not in a personal but professional capacity in relation to his work, especially in Tabung Haji and most recently as chairman of Media Prima. This entailed meeting him at least once a quarter.

Ismee usually meets him in the PMO or Parliament and at home once or twice in the Taman Langgak Duta house.

He has known Najib since 2009 but he knew him earlier while the latter was deputy prime minister.

9.20am: Ismee takes the stand. Shafee leads cross-examination. – June 18, 2019.