FORMER SRC International chairman Ismee Ismail was not questioned today over apparent contradictions between his testimony on the stand and his six-page witness statement recorded by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission last year.

Defence counsel Harvinderjit Singh told Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali that the defence would address Ismee’s alleged inconsistencies at a later date as they needed more time to go through his oral evidence over the past week.

“We have looked at the transcripts over the past four days. We will make a decision in due course,” said Harvinderjit.

The alleged inconsistencies stem from his testimony that the SRC International board adopted a shareholder resolution, or non-binding agreement, which it acted on on the advice of former prime minister Najib Razak in his capacity as a shareholder.

The defence has argued that this contradicted Ismee’s witness statement, which read that the board followed Najib’s instructions as adviser emeritus.

Instead of the expected grilling, defence lawyers only cross-examined Ismee, who said he did not know that the company hired relationship managers to manage its company accounts at AmBank.

Ismee said the board was not informed when ownership of the company was transferred to the Ministry of Finance (MoF) in February 2012 from 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), soon after a government guarantee was provided for its second loan of RM2 billion from the Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP).

He then repeated an earlier statement that he had never met Najib in his capacity as SRC board chairman.

Ismee chaired the board from 2011 to 2014 while Najib served as finance minister. He headed the MoF and chaired the 1MDB adviser board.

SRC International was formed in January 2011.

Ad hoc prosecutor V. Sithambaram told the court today that the prosecution had handed a copy of the shareholder resolution to the defence before the trial began. He added that the document was not shown to Ismee and that the defence was welcome to cross-examine Ismee further on the matter.

Prosecutors contend that Najib took an active role in SRC International while the defence argues that he was not fully aware of the decisions and transactions that occurred, including with bank accounts under his name.

Ismee yesterday testified that the SRC International board never sought to verify CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil’s statements and directives, which he said came directly from Najib.

He said the board trusted Nik Faisal, who served as the “link” between the entity and former prime minister.

Ismee had earlier this week clashed with the defence on the interpretation of the minutes of a meeting between Nik Faisal and Najib on September 7, 2011.

At the meeting, a deposit of RM1.8 billion in SRC International funds into banks in Switzerland and Hong Kong after the entity received its first loan disbursement in mid-2011 was discussed.

The meeting between Nik Faisal and Najib occurred about a week after KWAP disbursed its first loan of RM2 billion to SRC International made out on August 29, 2011.

At that meeting, Najib was alleged to have approved a deposit of RM1.5 billion into Swiss bank BSI Ltd and another RM300 million into Julius Baer Group in Hong Kong. 

The minutes’ veracity is under dispute, and Nazlan has agreed not to file it as evidence yet.

Nik Faisal is currently missing and being sought by the police.

Najib’s charges in this trial relate to a RM4 billion loan to SRC International made out in 2011 and 2012, for which he is accused of receiving RM42 million in his accounts in 2014 and 2015.

He faces three counts of criminal breach of trust, three counts of money laundering and one count of abuse of power. – June 14, 2019.