A WITNESS testified at Najib Razak’s SRC International trial today that the former prime minister paid him RM2.5 million to do political intelligence and to establish support for the Barisan Nasional government.

Habibul Rahman Kadir Shah, 62, who described himself as a business consultant and corporate adviser, said he was paid by Najib to carry out work to “defuse political threats”.

Questioned by prosecutors in court today, Habibul said he received a cheque for RM2.5 million on February 2, 2015, for work he described as intelligence gathering and to build up “political goodwill”.

On why he was paid such an amount by Najib, Habibul told prosecutors: “Because that is for the purpose of BN’s political benefit”.

He said he received the cheque personally at Najib’s official residence in Putrajaya in 2015. 

Habibul said he had requested that the cheque be written to the law firm, Zulqarnain & Co.

“I purposely requested for that because it will be deemed for my own use. This money was used for political intel and political goodwill. It was for me to pay out other people who were involved in the operations,” he said.

When asked by prosecution lawyer Muhammad Saifuddin Hashim Musaimi on whether he knew the people whom he made payments to, Habibul said the full list was with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.

Habibul is the 23rd prosecution witness in Najib’s money-laundering and criminal breach of trust trial over RM42 million of funds from SRC International Sdn Bhd, a former 1Malaysia Development Bhd unit.

He is among the direct beneficiaries out of 15 recipients of cheques totalling over RM10.77 million issued under two AmIslamic Bank accounts registered under Najib’s name, based on court documents produced in court previously.

Last week, another witness, lawyer Ashraf Abdul Razak from the law firm Zulqarnain & Co where he was partner from 1996 to 2017, said he received the RM2.5 million cheque dated February 2, 2015, on Habibul’s behalf, as the latter was the firm’s client.

Ashraf told the court that to his knowledge, he believed the money was from a defence contract Habibul received from the government. 

Habibul today refuted Ashraf’s claims, saying that he was never paid for any defence work. 

“Definitely incorrect. I did not do any defence contract. I would have had to declare that as my income,” he said. 

When Shafee asked if Ashraf may have been confused by the term “political defence”, Habibul Rahman said it was possible.

Habibul also said he did not know the source of money for the cheque, and neither did he enquire.

“I believe the funds came from political donations, as I am an Umno member myself since 1984. It is common knowledge that everyone gives donations to the (party) president or prime minister,” he said.

Shafee then asked Habibul to elaborate on the political projects he carried out. 

“I do not wish to answer. It’s special operations, there’s nothing illegal. It was not political ‘black’ operations – it was special operations. It was done to diffuse political threats,” he said. 

He said that the work involved providing intelligence to pre-empt what political opponents were doing, and that such work was different than work done by political forecasters or pollsters. 

“We needed a fee for these operations. Nobody gives information for free. This (RM2.5 million) was a nominal sum paid for our work,” he said, adding that other political firms get paid more for research and other work. 

Habibul also said that when he received the money, he had instructed Ashraf to disburse some of it to his wife and children, and the rest was used for his political intelligence work. – April 30, 2019.