A WITNESS from Bank Negara was today ordered by the Kuala Lumpur High Court to produce documents relating to communications between bankers and 10 individuals, including wanted businessman Low Taek Jho and former 1Malaysia Development Bhd officials.

Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali ruled that communications that were previously not included as evidence, must be reproduced by central bank investigating officer Ahmad Farhan Sharifuddin, if he still has them.

“I’m of the view that given the grounds by the defence, the request for the documents, which relate only to communication involving the bankers mentioned by the defence, to be relevant,” Nazlan said.

He made this decision after a lengthy argument between defence lawyers and prosecutors over the legality of including additional documents as evidence, under Section 51A of the Evidence Act.

Najib’s lawyers had requested the documents on communications between three AmBank relationship managers – Joanna Yu, Daniel Lee and Krystle Yap – and 10 individuals.

The 10 are: Low, commonly known as Jho Low, former SRC International CEO and director Nik Faisal Nik Ariff Kamil, former director Jerome Lee Tak Loong, former 1MDB finance executive director Terence Geh Choh Heng, former 1MDB general counsel Jasmine Loo Ai Swan, former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi, former SRC International CEO and president Mohammed Azhar Osman Khairuddin, former 1MDB CEO Ismee Ismail, former SRC International director Suboh Md Yasin and See Yok Peng.

The defence lawyers said they wanted access to the communications that may had been carried out via email and encrypted text messages on BlackBerry devices.

Lawyer Harvinderjit Singh read out excerpts in the bestseller book Billion Dollar Whale, where Jho Low allegedly coached Yu on how to use the BlackBerry to communicate discreetly.

Attorney-General Tommy Thomas was seen laughing as Harvinderjit spent half an hour reading out excerpts from the book. 

Harvinderjit told the judge that he was not admitting to the veracity of the book, but was using the book as an example of “countless” publications on alleged communications carried out by individuals linked to the SRC International trial.

The lawyer said the book’s authors, Wall Street Journal reporters Bradley Hope and Tom Wright, had access to transcripts of alleged communications and other documents uncovered by investigations that had not been made available to the defence.

Yu was alleged in the book to have been Jho Low’s primary contact at AmBank.

Farhan today said Yu was the relationship manager for 1MDB and SRC International. He, however, could not recall if Yu was a relationship manager for Najib as well.

The request for Jho Low’s communications came despite Farhan telling the court he did not recall coming across communications between the Penang-born businessman and AmBank officers.

Farhan, who was the fourth witness, also testified that prior to the July 6, 2015 raid on AmBank, he had met Yu, Daniel Lee and possibly Yap. He said he recorded a statement from Yu and Lee for another investigation related to 1MDB.

Najib’s lead counsel Shafee Abdullah argued that obtaining further documents may “rekindle” Farhan’s memory.

“I don’t doubt his testimony. He appears to be methodical in his work. But he may have forgotten certain things because he jotted it down,” Shafee said.

Deputy public prosecutor Isyak Yusoff had earlier objected to the line of questioning by the defense in relation to 1MDB, saying it may affect the outcome of Najib’s future trials and violate Section 136 of the Evidence Act. 

Thomas also argued that the line of questioning would affect the admissibility of witnesses’ testimonies. Avoiding such line of questioning is also for the protection of Najib, he added. 

“We thank the A-G for taking our protection into account,” Harvinderjit shot back. 

The court was told that Bank Negara manager Badrul Hisham Mohd and Affin Bank’s Nimma Safira Khalid will be called tomorrow. – April 17, 2019.