THE former CEO of Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP) testified today that she was asked to meet a senior aide to Najib Razak after working hours at a hotel at KL Sentral eight years ago. 

Azian Mohd Noh, 66, told the court that she met with Azlin Alias, a special officer who headed Najib’s economic policy team, sometime in June 2011, to receive an application letter for a RM3.95 billion loan.

“I was contacted by Azlin’s office to meet at a hotel lobby, in KL Sentral, Kuala Lumpur,” she told the Kuala Lumpur High Court today. 

“I went to the hotel at night after work.”

Azian, who was KWAP CEO from 2007 until she retired in 2013, said she received a letter from Azlin. 

Azlin died in 2015 in the helicopter crash that also killed former minister Jamaluddin Jarjis, who was a close associate of Najib’s.

“I was told by Azlin that the prime minister, Datuk Seri Najib, has agreed with the proposal from SRC International and I was referred to a handwritten notation on the letter that was (in) Datuk Seri Najib’s (handwriting).”

The letter, dated June 3, 2011, was an application letter from SRC International, then owned by 1Malaysia Development Bhd, for a loan of RM3.95 billion from KWAP. 

On that letter, Azian testified, was a handwritten notation of Najib’s that said, ‘Bersetuju dengan cadangan ini’ (Agree with this proposal). The notation was dated June 5.

Azian said the following morning, she met with then KWAP chairman Wan Abdul Aziz Wan Abdullah to inform him that she has received the letter. 

Wan Aziz then informed Azian to prepare an investment paper for KWAP’s investment panel to approve a loan of RM1 billion instead of RM3.95 billion .

Azian said the smaller amount was recommended by KWAP’s fixed income department, which had determined there was excessive risk of default due to the “over-concentration” of the loan amount. 

She confirmed the paper was signed by the then KWAP fixed income department director Ahmad Norhisham and assistant vice-president Amirul Imran Ahmat. 

Azian said she attended an investment panel meeting on July 5, 2011, chaired by Wan Aziz and attended by Mohammed Azlan Hashim, Abdul Wahid Omar, Nozirah Bahari, Cheah Tek Kuang, Zakiah Che Din, Azlida Mazni Arshad and Fatini Abd Ghapur.

On the suggestion of a panel member, Wan Aziz and Azian later arranged for a meeting with Najib at the Prime Minister’s Office in Putrajaya to inform the latter of the RM1 billion loan proposal. 

Azian said she could not recall when the meeting took place. 

Amirul later prepared a investment paper for the approval of RM2 billion to SRC International to serve a loan for working capital and general investments. 

Continuing her testimony, Azian said another investment panel meeting was held on July 19, 2011. At the meeting, the terms and conditions of the loans were tightened so that they now included the need for a guarantee from the government.

She said the panel agreed on the following: 

– That RM2 billion was too much to give a company with an initial paid-up capital of RM2. They agreed to a RM1 billion loan. 

– The members agreed to loan the money to 1MDB as it was wholly-owned by Ministry of Finance Inc (MoF) and not to SRC. This was because 1MDB had better financial management discipline and was supervised by MoF.

– The panel was worried about the “over-concentration” of risks. 

– The panel questioned SRC International’s proposal to invest in natural resources, which needed a lot of expertise. 

– The panel also agreed the payment should not be made out in a lump sum.

Azian said she informed the investment panel that the prime minister had told the KWAP chairman to hasten the loan approval process and that RM2 billion was sufficient.
 
Azian said that she could not recall when the request for RM2 billion was made, only that she was told by the chairman to expedite the RM2 billion approval.

She recalled receiving a letter from SRC on August 12, 2011, requesting that the RM2 billion go directly to SRC International instead of 1MDB as SRC International was under 1MDB, which had government backing.

She said on August 22 that year, the MoF furnished her with a letter sanctioning the payout of RM2 billion to KWAP. The amount was remitted in four tranches of RM500 million each on August 29, 2011.

KWAP then gave SRC International an offer letter for a loan of RM2 billion, according to the terms and conditions set by the investment panel.  

Azian said on March 13, 2012, KWAP received another letter from SRC International, signed by the CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, asking for another RM2 billion loan from KWAP 

An investment paper was then prepared for the panel to decide if an additional RM2 billion should be given to SRC based on the terms and conditions set in the first loan agreement, which would also have a government guarantee.

The investment paper stated the then finance minister (Najib) had approved the request and advised SRC to get the funds from KWAP.

The trial, presided over by Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, continues tomorrow. – May 28, 2019.