THE Kuala Lumpur High Court heard last week that fugitive financier Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, was behind many transactions that funnelled millions of SRC International Sdn Bhd funds to former prime minister Najib Razak’s current accounts to avoid them from being overdrawn.

Former AmBank relationship manager Joanna Yu testified that Najib’s three bank accounts, ending with “898”, “906” and “880”, were constantly overdrawn and had to receive cash payments to prevent cheques issued from bouncing.

The accounts, opened on July 31, 2013, were closed in March, 2015.

Najib’s two credit cards were also cancelled in the same month.

Yu, who is the prosecution’s 54th witness, told the court that RM12.4 million have been deposited into Najib’s accounts from June 2014 to March 2015 despite warnings those transactions might raise money-laundering red flags.

When cross-examined by the defence, Yu said Low had directed her to lie about the purposes of three bank drafts involving RM139 million issued to Putra Perdana Construction from Gandingan Mentari in July 2014 and asked to “make up a story” on transaction forms.

The witness also said Low had queried if he could make individual transactions of RM50 million without alerting Bank Negara Malaysia.

She confirmed the Penang-born businessman had queried whether the central bank needed to be alerted if he made two transfers of RM50 million each, in US dollars, via accounts linked to two firms.

However, Low did not follow through with that plan, instead carried out a real-time electronic transfer of funds and securities system (Rentas) transfer, which required fewer documents.

On July 8, 2014, RM35 million was transferred from SRC International to Putra Perdana Construction.

Subsequently, RM105 million and RM30 million were transferred on July 14, 2014, and August 8, 2014.

Yu was asked about the RM27 million originating from SRC International, which found its way into Najib’s “880” account, the subject of another three money-laundering charges for which he has yet to stand trial.

In their chats, Low told Yu not to ask where the money came from and agreed with the defence’s suggestion that Low had convinced her that it was a donation from royalty.

Witness used own money to cover for Najib

Yu said she may have acted outside her job scope by using RM55,000 of her own money to regularise an overdraft in Najib’s current account ending in “906” on September 29, 2014.

Najib had issued a cheque for RM80,000 to businessman Lim Soon Peng that day, after which Yu attempted to alert Low on the shortfall in the current account.

She then attempted to contact his secretary, identified as Josie, but only managed to get in touch with Low’s associate, Kee Kok Thiam.

BlackBerry chat logs showed Yu messaged Josie the next day, thanking her for repaying the RM55,000.

The defence also pointed to an example of Low’s influence when he facilitated RM5 million to be transferred from construction firm Putra Perdana into Najib’s account at the end of 2014 to ensure a cheque issued to Umno did not bounce.

Yu contacted Low on the morning of September 10, 2014 to inform him that there was a shortfall of RM3.8 million.

After a scramble that involved Low, Josie and Putra Perdana group CEO Jerome Lee, the RM5 million was transferred to Najib’s account by the end of the day.

Low, the go-to person

Earlier this week, Yu testified that Low was the go-to person whenever she could not get hold of former SRC International Sdn Bhd CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil to deal with Najib’s current accounts being overdrawn.

Yu, however, maintained only Nik Faisal could sign off on bank written instructions because he was the accounts’ mandate holder.

She also agreed with the defence’s suggestion that Najib might have been under the impression that the RM42 million deposited into his accounts in December 2014 and February 2015 – for which he is facing criminal charges – were donations.

Lawyers suggested that Najib’s state of mind then might have stemmed from the previous transactions amounting to hundreds of millions into other accounts.

Yu said cheques from Najib’s current accounts were routinely issued despite warnings to Low and Nik Faisal about the lack of funds.

She had consistently maintained she did not carry out illegal transactions under Low or Nik Faisal’s instructions.

She also told the court that she and other members of her team at AmBank had declined job offers in 2013 from Low, who by then was heavily linked with 1Malaysia Development Berhad and SRC International.

Najib’s charges are linked to RM4 billion in loans issued to SRC International in 2011 and 2012, for which he is accused of receiving RM42 million in his personal accounts in 2014 and 2015.

He is charged with three counts of criminal breach of trust, three counts of money-laundering and one count of abuse of power. – August 4, 2019.