A LAWYER told the Kuala Lumpur High Court today that SRC International Sdn Bhd owes RM9.2 billion in principal and interests for a 10-year loan taken from Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP) in 2011 and 2012.

Mohd Shuhaimi Ismail, a senior partner at law firm Hisham, Sobri & Kadir, which handled financing documentation between SRC International and KWAP, verified two RM2 billion Bai’al-Inah Islamic facilities agreements issued in August 29, 2011, and March 28, 2012.

The witness said SRC International had defaulted on the loans and thus, Putrajaya has taken over the loan repayment. This includes RM4.6 billion over a 10-year period for a RM2 billion loan agreed upon on August 26, 2011.

The agreement was signed by former KWAP CEO Azian Mohd Noor and former SRC International CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil.

Last month, another witness had told the court that SRC International currently owes KWAP RM4.15 billion in principal debt plus interest for unpaid government-guaranteed loans issued in 2011 and 2012.

Afidah Azwa Abdul Aziz, a strategic investment deputy secretary with the Finance Ministry, said previously, the debt would be settled by 2022, or 10 years after the second credit facility of RM2 billion was disbursed.

“Up till now, the government is still paying the loan from KWAP to SRC International, and this will continue until the principal debt plus interest are fully settled,” she told the court. 

A government guarantee is a contingent liability, whereby the government bears the costs of the principal debt and interest should the company fail to settle its loan repayment, Afidah had said.

Meanwhile, the court also heard today that former prime minister Najib Razak’s AmBank account was credited with some £9.46 million (RM50.22 million) through six transactions from two firms linked to fugitive financier Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, in 2014.

Two of those transactions – from Seychelles-based Visa Equity International Pte Ltd amounting to RM12.17 million – were labelled for “loan purposes” and not “donations”, as previously claimed by Najib.

The transactions credited into Najib’s account were a single transaction of RM4,093,500 from Blackrock Commodities Global Ltd received on June 23, 2014, as well as five transactions from Visa Equity International Pte Ltd amounting to RM30,320,250 received on October 23, 2014; RM3,624,273.70 (November 24, 2014); RM11,567.57 (November 26, 2014); RM5,360,065.00 (December 10, 2014); and, RM6,809,129.43 (December 19, 2014).

Wedani Senen, a remittance department manager at the AmBank’s Kuala Lumpur head office, verified the transactions at today’s hearing. 

Except for the two most recent transactions, none had stated its purpose to the bank, ad hoc prosecutor V. Sithambaram said during cross-examination today.

Wedani confirmed that none of the transactions were listed as “gifts or donations”.

This morning, the defence also sought to verify communications between AmBank relationship managers Joanna Yu, Krystle Yap and Daniel Lee on Blackberry and chatting apps, such as WhatsApp and Telegram.

Bank Negara analyst Shuzairizman Shuib, who led a digital forensics team on a raid of AmBank’s Raja Chulan branch on July 6, 2015, said that a chat group that included Yu and another contact identified as “J” was created on July 7, 2014. Other individuals were added to the the group months later.

Najib faces seven criminal charges over receiving RM42 million in SRC International funds.

The trial continues. – July 15, 2019.