FORMER SRC International chairman Ismee Ismail told the high court today that he was never pressured by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to implicate Najib Razak for the criminal charges the former prime minister is currently facing. 

During cross-examination by lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, Ismee said he gave his statement to the anti-graft agency on his own free will.

Ismee denied that MACC officers were harsh or had coerced him, despite being investigated for several other graft-related cases. 

He also told the court he was blacklisted, had his passport confiscated and his bank accounts frozen by MACC.

Ismee had three investigations against him involving Tabung Haji for criminal breach of trust for disbursing Yayasan Tabung Haji funds for political activities, for misrepresenting to the Tabung Haji board the sale of an oil palm estate in Indonesia, and acquiring an estate in Indonesia.

Ismee said he was also being investigated for the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal, aside from SRC International.

His accounts were frozen by MACC, as he received a director’s free. 

He is also being sued by FGV Bhd, as he was a former director.

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

Ismee: No, I don’t think so.

Shafee: Did MACC tell you that you had committed some offence, indirectly? 

Ismee: I don’t think so. Throughout the course of the investigations, I was questioning myself (to see if I had done anything wrong).

Ismee, who chaired the SRC Internaational board from 2011 to 2014, previously told the court he was questioned by the MACC in mid-2015 and last year, after the May 9 general election. 

Najib’s charges in this trial relate to the RM4 billion loan to SRC International made 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.

The 66-year-old former prime minister is represented by a dozen lawyers led by Shafee.

Attorney-General Tommy Thomas is leading the prosecution before trial judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali. – June 18, 2019.