FORMER Treasury secretary-general Wan Abdul Aziz Wan Abdullah will take the stand today at Najib Razak’s SRC International trial after calling in sick yesterday.

Prosecutors told Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali yesterday that the 68-year-old witness was unwell and requested that the hearing begin earlier, at 8.45am, today.

Wan Aziz, who will be the 45th witness, was the superior of yesterday’s witness, Maliami Hamad, the Finance Ministry’s former loans management, financial markets and actuary division secretary.

Maliami told the court on Monday that he was pressured by high-ranking officials who answered to former prime minister Najib Razak, who urged him to extradite government guarantees for RM4 billion in loans to SRC International.

Maliami testified that he had to prepare two government guarantees in 2011 and 2012 quicker than he normally would because he was told they had received the “special attention” of Najib.

On the 2011 guarantee, Maliami told the court the pressure came not only came from SRC International but also from Wan Aziz, who said it was a “top-down” matter that must be expedited regardless of circumstances.

The first guarantee was approved on August 26, 2011, and the first loan was disbursed from Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP) to SRC International on August 29, 2011.

The second loan of RM2 billion, however, was disbursed before the second guarantee was prepared. KWAP had then relied on a letter of comfort from the ministry that the guarantee was forthcoming and that the loan could be approved.

The second loan of RM2 billion to SRC International was disbursed on March 28, 2012.

Najib’s charges are linked to RM4 billion in loans issued to SRC International, for which he is accused of receiving RM42 million in his personal 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.

Najib, 66, is represented by a dozen lawyers led by Muhammad Shafee Abdullah while Attorney-General Tommy Thomas is leading the prosecution.

The Malaysian Insight brings you today’s proceedings live:

4.30pm: Court has adjourned to 9am tomorrow.

3.20pm: Farhan: Basically he (Najib) said forget about the RM3.95 billion, but RM2 billion “memadai”, which means it would be enough?

Wan Aziz: Yes.

Farhan: Did you interpret that as an instruction? 

Wan Aziz: It was for us to consider giving RM2billion.

3.10pm: Wan Aziz says he met Najib often back then to discuss Finance Ministry issues. 

He says he and Najib met on ministry issues after the KWAP meeting, in which they agreed agreed to give only RM1 billion to SRC International.

In his witness statement, Wan Aziz had said that Najib said RM1 billion was not sufficient and RM2 billion would be an adequate amount.

Farhan: When he said RM2 billion would suffice, he meant in reference to the RM3.95 billion? 

Wan Aziz: Yes.

3pm: Farhan: Would you agree that your first meeting with Najib, where Azian came with you, was an informal one? You thought you’d pop in and just say hey?

Wan Aziz: Yes.

Farhan: When you informed him about only approving RM1 billion, how was Najib’s reaction? 

Wan Aziz: He didn’t say anything.

2.50pm: Wan Aziz says in the July 5, 2011 investment panel meeting, the panel had decided to limit the SRC International loan to RM1 billion. He says this was done with due diligence.

2.40pm: Court resumes with Wan Aziz taking the stand.

12.23pm: Wan Aziz said before SRC International wrote to KWAP for an RM3.95 billion loan, he received a phone call from Azlin saying that Najib has agreed that SRC International was going to make an application.  

He told Azlin the due process is that SRC International has to write in and apply for the loan.

(Azlin was Najib’s private secretary at that time.)

12.12pm: The Economic Planning Unit did a study on the viability of setting up SRC International in 2010, before the loans were given.

Wan Aziz said he is unsure about this and needs to see the study.

11.43am: The judge reprimands Farhan for asking repetitive questions.

11.38am: Wan Aziz said the fixed income department will meet with a loan applicant many times before approving KWAP’s loans.

The department ensures that the panel invests in viable investments.

11.27am: Court resumes after a 10-minute break. Farhan commences his cross-examination.

10.50am: According to the act, the Treasury secretary-general is also the chairman of KWAP, said Wan Aziz.

10.41am: Wan Aziz said his positions in MoF and KWAP were simultaneous. He also served in PNB from 2012 to 2018.

10.33am: Farhan Read begins cross-examination of the witness.

10.31am: Wan Aziz said the second loan transaction was “out of the ordinary” because the money was released to SRC International before the government guarantee was given.

10.17am: Wan Aziz said he abstained from discussion of the loan at the KWAP panel meetings because of his role as Treasury secretary-general.

MoF Inc was under his purview and SRC International was under the purview of MoF Inc. He said it would be a conflict of interest.

10.09am: The meeting was just between Najib and Wan Aziz.

After Najib made the request, Wan Aziz told Azian about the prime minister’s instructions.

He said the request was also brought up in the first investment panel meeting to approve the first RM2 billion loan. There are minutes of the meeting.

If he did not meet with Najib about increasing the loan amount, the panel would have approved the initial RM1billion loan only.

10.06am: When the panel initially decided to approve only RM1 billion, Wan Aziz and Azian went to see Najib to inform him of the panel’s decision.

He said he once met Najib alone in the prime minister’s office on official Finance Ministry matters. He revealed that Najib had asked him to hasten the loan from KWAP.

He also told Wan Aziz that RM1 billion was not enough and that RM2 billion would be sufficient.

10.03am: He said the money was not to be used for other purposes as stipulated in the loan request letter and the loan agreement between KWAP and SRC International.

Any breach could have been deemed an “event of default”.

10am: An investment paper was prepared and on March 20, 2012, an investment panel meeting was called where they approved the second RM2 billion loan to SRC International based on the terms as the first loan – that is, a government guarantee and the loan made out to the government instead of SRC International.

9.56am: There was also a resolution signed by Najib in February 2012, giving a government guarantee on the second RM2 billion loan.

He identifies Najib’s signature on the resolution.

SRC International said both loans to be used for working capital and investments.

9.54am: On March 13, 2012, another letter was received from SRC International entitled “Proposal for additional financing of RM2 billion to SRC” addressed to Azian.

The letter was signed by Nik Faisal.

9.52am: They also approved the loan based on the condition of an impending government guarantee.

Azian informed Wan Aziz that the government guarantee had been given and the RM2 billion had already been issued to SRC International. He doesn’t give a date.

9.50am: On July 19, 2011, there was a special investment panel meeting to discuss a RM2 billion loan to SRC International.

The investment panel then decided to allow the loan on the condition that it be made out to the government.

9.43am: On July 5, 2011, the investment panel held a meeting where he was present. The panel decided that RM3.95 billion was too big an amount to loan because of the high concentration risk.

Former witness Azlida Mazni jotted down minutes of the meeting.

9.38am: Former CEO Azian Mohd Noor received the letter from the late Azlin Alias, Najib’s special officer. The letter was then shown to Wan Aziz.

He confirms that the KWAP investment panel initially only approved an RM1 billion loan to SRC International in an investment paper.

9.37am: The letter contains the words “agree with this suggestion” written on it with Najib’s signature.

He said, in his knowledge, this meant that Najib agreed with the loan.

9.35am: Wan Aziz said during his tenure there were two tranches of RM2 billion loaned to SRC International.

He saw a letter dated June 3, 2011 signed by Nik Faisal and addressed to Najib seeking a RM3.95 billion loan.

9.31am: In his capacity as secretary-general, he served as the chairman of KWAP in March 2007 until August 2012.

His roles in KWAP included ensuring the smooth running of KWAP and overseeing its investments.

He had to chair KWAP board meetings in this capacity. He is now going through the approval process of KWAP loans and investments.

Loans are given based on their credit rating and ability to repay them, he said.

9.20am: The former Treasury secretary-general will be reading a statement he wrote with the help of MACC officers.

He retired from public service on May 23, 2008 and served as Treasury secretary-general on a contract basis until August 23, 2012.

9.18am: Wan Abdul Aziz Wan Abdullah takes the stand.

9.11am: Nazlan enters the court. Only Farhan Read is present for the defence.

Mat Noor Nawi, a former Treasury deputy secretary-general, takes the stand.

Nik Faisal’s aide, Zahid Taib, is present in court and Mat Noor is asked to identify him.

Mat Noor is let go from the stand after identifying Zahid.

9.08am: Court not in session despite call by prosecutors to begin early. Najib, in a dark grey suit, is seated in the public gallery, chatting with a supporter. – July 10, 2019.