THE verbal skirmishes between prosecution and defence in the SRC International Sdn Bhd trial boiled over today when ad hoc prosecutor V. Sithambaram called defence lawyer Harvinderjit Singh “pathetic”.

At the core of the heated exchange was the manner in which Harvinderjit was questioning former AmBank relationship manager Joanna Yu, to which Sithambaram objected.

Harvinderjit: Well, if you want to be pedantic about it, then okay.

Sithambaram: You are pathetic.

Harvinderjit: I’m sorry?

Sithambaram: I said, you are pathetic.

There was a moment of stunned silence in court while presiding judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali ordered the lawyers to avoid that kind of description during the trial.

Sithambaram then apologised to the court.

The exchange took place after Harvinderjit questioned Yu on her relationship with fugitive financier Low Taek Jho and whether she took instructions from him on the account transactions.

The prosecution had earlier told Harvinderjit to be more “gentle with the lady witnesses”.

Harvinderjit argued that the witness was not directly answering his questions.

“I’ve tried the easy way. Now, I have to go the hard way.”

Nazlan then told Yu to reply “yes or no” to binary questions, adding that she could clarify her reply during re-examination by the prosecution.

During cross-examination by Harvinderjit earlier, Yu said she acted only on written instructions from SRC International managing director Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil.

With Low, Yu said she followed his instructions only when it came to preventing Najib’s cheques from bouncing as it would be unseemly for that to happen to a prime minister.

Harvinderjit: Is it your position that in relation to the accounts, you did not follow the instructions of Jho Low. Yes or no?

Yu: I did follow when he said ‘Don’t let the cheque bounce’. That was it.

Harvinderjit: For these four accounts, you continuously followed instructions from Jho Low. Agree or disagree?

Yu: I don’t get your question.

Harvinderjit: Jho Low, on numerous occasions, instructed you to email Nik Faisal. Did you comply?

Yu: Yes.

Harvinderjit suggests that Yu was the liaison between Low and Nik Faisal. She says they did not need her to be a liaison.

Yu further denied she passed instructions from Low to Nik Faisal.

Harvinderjit: Do you agree that you were getting actual instructions from Jho Low, although you needed written instructions from Nik Faisal?

Yu: We only act on written (instructions). We can only act on written (instructions).

Harvinderjit: I’m not asking you that. I’m telling you that you took instructions from Jho Low, and sent them to Nik Faisal?

Yu: No.

Harvinderjit: Were there letters drafted by you on behalf of Nik Faisal and sent to him to sign?

Yu: Yes.

She said she helped draft the letters for Nik Faisal, as he did not know how to do so. He would always go through them and sign them, she said. 

Najib faces three counts of criminal breach of trust, three counts of money-laundering and one count of abuse of power.

The 66-year-old is represented by a dozen lawyers led by Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, while Attorney-General Tommy Thomas leads the prosecution.

The trial continues tomorrow. – July 23, 2019.