NAJIB Razak’s SRC International Sdn Bhd trial enters its 18th day today, with the defence continuing its cross-examination of the 35th witness, KWAP legal and secretarial department vice-president Azlida Mazni Arshad.

Yesterday, the senior Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP) legal officer told the Kuala Lumpur High Court that SRC International’s applications for RM4 billion in loans were approved by fixed income department officers, who chose not to reject them despite incomplete documents.

She said KWAP’s investment panel is not bound by the instructions of any minister, or even the prime minister, in approving loan applications.

Former prime minister Najib Razak is on trial for allegedly receiving RM42 million from those loans for SRC International in his personal bank accounts.

Under cross-examination by defence counsel Harvinderjit Singh, Azlida agreed that officers would put a stop to questionable investments or raise the matter with their superiors if they did not believe a venture would be profitable.

She also testified that a government guarantee letter signed by Najib did not amount to a directive to KWAP to approve its second RM2 billion loan to SRC International.

Azlida said she did not witness Najib signing the letter, and cannot verify that it was, in fact, his signature.

She also referred to a letter on SRC International’s application for a RM3.95 billion loan – which was later reduced to RM2 billion – that Najib had signed and endorsed with “Agree with this proposal”.

She told the court that the handwritten note did not amount to an instruction.

Azlida agreed with the defence’s suggestion that the investment panel approved the first RM2 billion loan after a government guarantee letter dated August 26, 2011 was produced. That letter was signed by former second finance minister Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah.

Najib faces three counts of criminal breach of trust, three counts of money-laundering and one count of abuse of power. He is represented by a dozen lawyers led by Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.

Attorney-General Tommy Thomas leads the prosecution, while justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali presides over the trial.

The Malaysian Insight brings you today’s proceedings live:

3.40pm: Shamsul says his first major project with 1MDB as part of CSR was to repair homes in Johor, and the cost of the project was about RM1 million.

He says he was only with 1MDB for a year from 2010-2011, and that Ihsan Perdana was formed by 1MDB to avoid conflict of interest.

Shafee stops his cross examination and tells judge Nazlan that since the day is almost over and he is going into a detailed area of his cross examination, he asks to continue at the next trial date.

Nazlan agrees and adjourns court.

3.20pm: He says when he joined 1MDB he was the executive director in charge of CSR, and had See as a partner.

Shamsul says his appointment was made by the 1MDB board.

3.15pm: Shamsul says he was called in 2010 by Najib to help him carry out CSR work such as repairing homes for the poor.

He says the job was in 1MDB, adding he was chosen because of his experience in Bakti, his profession and networking in Umno.

Shamsul says he knew Najib for a long time, since 1989 or 1990.

3.08pm: Shafee: So, can I say you were quite prominent as a CSR person?

Shamsul: Yes

3.05pm: The witness says he helped physically disabled children in Felda via Gabungan Wawasan Generasi Felda.

Later, he joined Bakti, where he says he did a lot of charity work.

3.02pm: Shamsul says he carried out many outreach programmes on his own.

Shafee says he is asking about Shamsul’s outreach programmes to show that he was always someone qualified in CSR work.

2.57pm: Shafee questions Shamsul’s career history.

1988 - Graduated as a doctor

1989-1997 - Worked for public healthcare

Worked in his clinic until 2008, then stopped practicing.

Shafee: Why did you stop?

Shamsul: I was doing a lot of CSR work. I was also offered other jobs.

2.56pm: Shamsul says the statement he read today was in his own words.

2.48pm: Shamsul names a Rosli as the investigating officer for the case since his first arrest.

2.45pm: According to his understanding, Shamsul says he was arrested because of the transfer of RM42 million and that he abetted and misappropriated the money.

He says after GE14 last year, MACC called him to its headquarters for three consecutive days.

2.43pm: Shamsul says there was accusation about the RM42 million transfer, adding that the deputy public prosecutor in the case didn’t mention the Act used to investigate him.

2.40pm: Shamsul says he was told that he was arrested for the transfer of RM42 million.

Shafee: Did you understand what you had done with regards to RM42 million?

Shamsul: I understood and I don’t see anything wrong in what I did.

2.36pm: Shamsul: When I was arrested, I did not understand why I was arrested.

The MACC officers did not want to tell him why he was arrested.

When he asked why he was arrested, Shamsul said the officers told him they would discuss it the next day when they got a court statement.

An officer named Abdullah Sani recorded his statement that day.

The next day, the magistrate told him that he was arrested to help in the 1MDB case.

2.31pm: Shamsul says he had been questioned eight times by the MACC.

He says the first time he was questioned in July 2015 but could not recall the date.

He was arrested and remanded by the MACC for five days and four nights at its headquarters.

MACC informed him that he was arrested for investigations into 1MDB.

2.30pm: Lead defence lawyer Shafee starts cross-examination.

2.22pm: RM42 million was transferred to Najib’s AmBank accounts based on instructions from Ung and See.

Shamsul says he acted on their instructions because Ung was YR1M CEO while See was YR1M director, and the foundation was a contributor to Ihsan Perdana.

2.20pm: On February 9, 2015, Ihsan Perdana had transferred RM10 million to Najib’s “880” account.

Shamsul says he received a call from Ung in early February to request for the transfer, but unable to recall the date.

2.15pm: Shamsul corroborates the previous witness’ statement that he had no knowledge that the AmBank accounts belonged to Najib.

He says if he had known that the AmBank accounts belonged to Najib, he would not have allowed the transfer of RM5 million.

He also verifies another RM10 million was transferred to an AmBank account on the request of Ung via a phone call to him.

2.12pm: Shamsul says when SRC International selected Ihsan Perdana as its CSR partner, it committed RM250 million but only RM50 million came through.

2.05pm: Shamsul says he is unsure where the RM40 million came from.

Before the RM40 million was transferred to Ihsan Perdana, he says YR1M’s project director Dennis See met with him.

Shamsul says See had asked for permission to use Ihsan Perdana’s account as a transit and to transfer funds. Hence, he says he isn’t sure the source of the RM40 million.

2.03pm: He also confirms RM27 million that went out to an AmBank account was on the instruction of Ung Su Lin who was from Yayasan Rakyat 1Malaysia (YR1M).

2pm: Shamsul confirms that Ihsan Perdana received:

- RM40 million on December 24, 2014

- RM5 million on February 5, 2015

- RM5 million on February 6, 2015

1.57pm: Based on a letter to Ihsan Perdana on September 3, 2014, the witness confirms Ihsan Perdana was selected to be SRC International’s CSR partner for two years from the date of the letter.

1.55pm: Shamsul says all the money given to Ihsan Perdana was for CSR initiatives, and none was used personally by him or the staff members.

1.50pm: Court resumes with Shamsul reading his witness statement.

12.50pm: Court takes a break.

12.44pm: Shamsul confirms Ihsan Perdana has three accounts with Affin Bank. All three were opened at Affin Bank The Curve.

Account numbers:

106180001108 – Main account of Ihsan Perdana

101180011300 – Operating expense account 

106180001001 – CSR financing account

Shamsul also confirms that he and Abdul Aziz are the signatories for all three accounts.

All Ihsan Perdana’s financial statements are audited by Wan Nazir and Co.

12.40pm: Witness says Ihsan Perdana has 20 staff members.

He is tasked with carrying out due diligence and responsible for all the money coming in and going out of Ihsan Perdana.

Ihsan Perdana received a RM40 million grant for CSR initiatives from 1MDB. RM5 million was to be used for operational costs.

12.36pm: He says Ihsan Perdana had no other board members, and he and Abdul Aziz were the only shareholders.

12.30pm: He says a shell company called Gem Horizon Sdn Bhd was form, then renamed Ihsan Perdana as the name Gem Horizons was unsuitable for CSR initiatives.

He and Abdul Aziz signed on to be the directors and shareholders of Ihsan Perdana. Ihsan Perdana had two shares of RM2 each and were held by him and Abdul Aziz.

12.25pm: The board of directors decided to start a company to carry out 1MDB’s CSR initiatives. Shamsul was tasked with that.

12.20pm: Shamsul was a practicing doctor with the government from 1989 to 1997. After that, he went on to set up a clinic with some friends.

He is also an Umno member.

He said Najib knows him as he is an Umno member. He was elected by Najib as a director in 1MDB’s CSR departmemt.

12.16pm: The next witness is called. Shamsul Anwar Sulaiman, 58, is the 37th witness of the trial and Ihsan Perdana’s managing director.

He is questioned by prosecution’s Muhammad Saifuddin

12.15pm: Harvinderjit has finished with his cross examination. The witness is let go from the stand.

12.10pm: Defence counsel Harvinderjit Singh begins his cross examination, questioning the witness on the cheque issuing process between Ihsan Perdana and Mail Global Resources.

12pm: Farhan confirms a total of RM118 million had been transferred from Ihsan Perdana’s account.

Transaction were:

- RM42 million to Najib’s account

- RM73 million to Mail Global Resources

- RM3 milion to Mohamed Redzuan Adamshah and Tazri Talib.

11.50am: On February 17, 2015, there were 10 cheques amounting to RM10 million issued by Ihsan Perdana. Each cheque was for RM1 million. Cheque numbers were from 13268 to 13277.

11.48am: On January 13, 2015, there were seven cheque transactions amounting to RM35 million from Ihsan Perdana’s account. Each cheque was for RM5 million. Cheque numbers were from 13259 to 13265.

11.45am: On the same date, there was a cheque of RM8 million (cheque no: 19327) issued to Mail Global Resources from Ihsan Perdana’s ‘1001’ account. This cheque was prepared by the witness.

The cheque was signed by Abdul Aziz and Shamsul Anwar.

Farhan then ask witness to confirm that the signatories for Ihsan Perdana’s two accounts were Abdul Aziz and Shamsul Anwar. She confirmed this.

11.30am: Farhan: On December 29, 2014, there was an internal transfer of RM8 million within Ihsan Perdana. The money was transferred to one of Ihsan Perdana’s account ending with “1001”.

Witness confirms this transaction.

11.25am: The four cheques were made out to a company Mail Global Resources. Farhan questions the witness if she knows a company named Mail Global Resources.

She says yes. When asked how she knew, witness says she came across the name when issuing cheques.

11.18am: Farhan asks the witness if there were other information attached to the payment vouchers.

She says yes, and the payment vouchers were usually attached with an email printout or invoice.

11.15am: Farhan asks her if it’s true that four cheques of RM5 million each were issued by Ihsan Perdana.

The witness is also asked how she recorded payments made by Ihsan Perdana. She said she issued payment vouchers.

11.08am: The nine transactions are:

September 11, 2014 - RM5 million + RM15 million

December 15, 2014 - RM20 million

December 24, 2014 - RM40 million

January 9, 2015 - RM40 million

February 5, 2015 - RM5 million

February 6, 2015 - RM5 million

February 13, 2015 - RM10 million

April 9, 2015 - RM3 million

Farhan then asks witness if she has any clue that RM20 million out of RM143 million came from SRC International, she says, “may be”.

11.02am: Court takes a break.

11am: Farhan asks her to verify there had been nine transactions, totalling RM143 million, that was credited into the Ihsan Perdana’s account.

Aishah also confirms that Ihsan Perdana’s two main contributors were 1MDB and Yayasan Rakyat 1Malaysia. She said the funds were used for CSR purposes.

10.56am: Farhan asks the witness to confirm if the RM40 million came from a Gandingan Mentari account ending in the numbers with “948”, citing the transaction details. The witness confirms this.

F: As a senior accounts executive, it is your job to know the cash flow of money in the company’s account. 

A: Yes.

Farhan then asks if the RM5 million transfer on February 5, 2015, also came from Gandingan Mentari’s “948” account. She affirms this. 

Farhan asks the witness if she was aware of the purpose of the transaction. She answers she was not.

She also confirms that RM5 million transferred on February 6, 2015, came from Gandingan Mentari’s “948” account.

10.48am: Farhan asks the witness to refer to a single credit confirmation advice. He says based on the transaction details, RM40 million credited to Ihsan Perdana came from Gandingan Mentari. He asks if she was aware of this. Aishah replies, “maybe”. When asked by Farhan to explain her answer, she says she only got to know about these transaction details today.

10.47am: She says she never crossed paths with Gandingan Mentari in her four years of working at Ihsan Perdana, adding she was not aware of any relationship between Gandingan Mentari and SRC International in relation to Ihsan Perdana.

She, however, admits that she was aware Ihsan Perdana had relations with state fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd.

10.40am: Aishah is asked to verify the transfer of RM50 million from Gandingan Mentari into Ihsan Perdana’s accounts. Farhan says RM40 million was credited to the account on December 24, 2014, RM5 million was credited on February 5, 2015, and another RM5 million was credited on February 6, 2015.

Aishah says she is unsure about whether Gandingan Mentari had credited RM40 million on December 24, 2014, to Ihsan Perdana’s Affin Bank account.

Farhan says a letter was issued on the same date to state that the funds were transferred from Gandingan Mentari, to which Aishah replies that she is unsure of this.

She says that from December 24, 2014, to February 5, 2015, no other transactions took place concerning the account.

10.32am: The witness tells the court she was the only personnel in Ihsan Perdana’s finance department.

F: How many staff were there in the finance department?

A: I was the only one.

10.30am: Farhan Read commences his cross-examination.

10.27am: Aishah says she received an email from Aziz, which he had received from an Ung Su Ling, who claimed to be a representative from Yayasan Rakyat 1Malaysia (YR1M). She says Ihsan Perdana handled CSR initiatives for YR1M. In the email, Ung had forwarded the AmBank account numbers and instructed that the funds be transferred there for “CSR programmes”.

She says Ihsan Perdana would still have copies of the supporting documents for the mentioned transactions.

10.22am: Harvinderjit askes the witness whether she knows Joanna Yu. Aishah replies that she does not.

10.20am: She says that after all these transactions were made, Aziz had asked her to check who the account recipient was. On all occasions, she says Affin Bank could not give her the account holder’s name.

She says in total, RM42 million was transferred to the AmBank accounts and that, to her knowledge, the money was used for CSR programmes.

10.16am: Aishah says she prepared a remittance form on Aziz’s instruction on February 9, 2015, to transfer RM10 million from Ihsan Perdana’s Affin Bank account to the same AmBank account ending in “880” and that the transaction was recorded as “Fund transfer for CSR programmes”.

10.11am: She says on December 26, 2014, Ihsan Perdana, from its Affin Bank account, had transferred RM5 million to an AmBank account ending in the numbers “906”, and that the purpose for the money transfer was listed as “CSR programmes”.

She tells the court she personally went to Affin Bank to hand in the remittance forms for these money transfers.

10.08am: Aishah says that the money was transferred to an AmIslamic account ending in the numbers “880”. She added the money transfer was recorded as use for “CSR programmes”.

9.59am: Aishah says she was instructed to produce two remittance forms by Ihsan Perdana managing director Abdul Aziz Ismail. She says RM27 million from Ihsan Perdana’s account was transferred to an AmIslamic Bank account.

9.43am: The next witness, Aishah Ghazali, takes the stand. The RedTech Offshore account manager was a senior executive at Ihsan Perdana, where she handled financial matters and was involved in the firm’s corporate social responsibility initiatives.

She says from 2012 to 2015, a total of RM50 million was credited into Ihsan Perdana’s Affin Bank account.

9.39am: Shafee says they will offer the replacement dates for the Fridays they take off. Thomas urges the defence to give the dates now.

“We want the dates now. They should give it now,” says the A-G.

Thomas insists on an answer, on whether they can return on Friday to resume the trial. If this cannot happen this week, the defence must give a date for next week.

9.37am: Thomas says the trial should be held on Friday, as according to the schedule, the trial continues that day, but there’s no date set for next week. Shafee says the principle is that they should be allowed one day a week to attend to personal matters.

9.35am: Thomas insists that the trial continue on Friday, and says it should be enough time.

9.34am: Judge Nazlan asks the lawyers if the KWAP CEO took the stand, would they be able to finish?

9.31am: Thomas tells the judge that the DPP has the discretion to decide who to call, and when.

“We are doing our best to accommodate witnesses’ schedules. But one thing we will not compromise on is them telling us when to call witnesses.”

9.30am: Harvinderjit tells judge Nazlan that the KWAP CEO was supposed to be the next witness, but the DPP had informed the defence on Monday that the prosecution would drop the chief executive from the witness list and bring two other witnesses instead.

9.27am: Azlida also maintains that she was never involved in any decision-making when it came to approving or tabling the loans, and says she just took minutes at the investment panel meetings. She is let go from the stand.

9.26am: The DPP tells judge Nazlan that most of Azlida’s answers during Harvinderjit’s cross-examination were hypothetical.

9.24am: Azlida is questioned by the deputy public prosecutor. She says she did not know the information in the investment paper. She maintains that every answer she had given Harvinderjit was her own opinion.

9.23am: According to paragraph 66 of the witness’ statement, Azlida says the loan for a total of RM4 billion was the biggest ever approved by KWAP. Harvinderjit finishes his cross-examination.

9.19am: Trial begins with Harvinderjit continuing his cross-examination of Azlida. They are going through the approval process for KWAP’s disbursement of loans in relation to the RM4 billion loaned to SRC International.

8.59am: Najib arrives at court. – May 15, 2019.