THE board of SRC International never sought to verify CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil’s statements and directives, which he claimed came directly from former prime minister Najib Razak, the court heard today.

Ismee Ismail, chairman of SRC International’s board of directors from 2011 to 2014, told the Kuala Lumpur High Court that they trusted Nik Faisal, who served as the “link” between the entity and Najib.

“Was the board of the impression that if Nik Faisal says he had a conversation with the prime minister, then he is to be believed?” defence lawyer Harvinderjit Singh asked Ismee.

“We (the board) trusted him,” Ismee said.

Ismee, 54, who was also a director at 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), was being cross-examined by defence lawyer Harvinderjit, on whether the board of SRC International should have flagged that Nik Faisal had asked the board to approve unaudited accounts.

Harvinderjit: You did not think it serious to report what happened in terms of the unaudited accounts?

Ismee: I disagree. I took action to close the accounts, with the external auditor (Deloitte). I didn’t like what happened, I needed to investigate.

Ismee said when he discovered that SRC International’s accounts for 2013 were not audited but were still tabled by Nik Faisal to the board, he contacted Deloitte to find out what had gone wrong.

Harvinderjit then asked Ismee if he had a direct line to the former prime minister to report these discrepancies, to which the latter said he did have contact with Najib.

He also told the court that Najib was his “ultimate boss” when he was asked about the board’s decision-making process.

“You have to see the inner meaning (tersirat). You have to understand how 1MDB works, I was also the CEO of Tabung Haji, he (Najib) was my ultimate boss,” he said.

Ismee said the board was bound by its owner 1MDB and ultimately, 1MDB’s owner, which is MoF Inc, run by the then finance minister Najib.

The board comprised Ismee, Nik Faisal, Suboh Yassin, Che Abdullah@Rashidi Che Omar and Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi. Nik Faisal remains missing and is being sought by the police.

At the end of this morning’s cross-examination, chief defence lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah made a submission to judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali to adjourn the trial until tomorrow morning as the lawyers needed time to study Ismee’s witness transcript from the time he first took the stand on Monday.

Lead prosecution V. Sithambaram supported Shafee’s submission and the judge allowed for the trial to continue tomorrow.

Najib, 66, is charged with benefiting from a RM4 billion loan made out to SRC International in 2011 and 2012, from which he allegedly received RM42 million in 2014 and 2015. – June 13, 2019.