FORMER Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP) chairman Wan Abdul Aziz Wan Abdullah told the court today that he did not know the outcome of the RM4 billion in loans given to SRC International Sdn Bhd.

Prosecutors in Najib Razak corruption’s trial involving SRC International funds had today compared the entity with previous government projects that were expedited without much paperwork.

During cross-examination, lead defence counsel Mohd Shafee Abdullah had suggested that it was not unusual for projects to be fast-tracked ahead of proper documentation by prime ministers, even those before Najib.

Shafee cited as examples a 103-room hotel built for the inaugural Lima aerospace exhibition in Langkawi in 1991, the North-South Highway (PLUS) and the Asia Petroleum Hub in Johor.

After Wan Abdul Aziz agreed with Shafee, deputy public prosecutor Suhaimi Ibrahim re-examined the witness, pointing to the hotel in Langkawi.

Suhaimi: Whether there was urging or not (by previous governments), does the project exist?

Wan Abdul Aziz: Yes.

Suhaimi: Same with UEM (Group highway)?

Wan Abdul Aziz: Yes.

Suhaimi: For SRC International, does Tan Sri know what happened to the loan?

Wan Abdul Aziz: I don’t know.

Suhaimi: Did you see the outcome of the PLUS and Lima projects?

Wan Abdul Aziz: Yes

When Suhaimi asked Wan Abdul Aziz if he knew what happened to the RM4 billion loaned to SRC International, the fund’s former chairman said he did not know.

Wan Abdul Aziz, the then Treasury secretary-general, had chaired the KWAP investment panel that approved RM4 billion in loans to SRC International.

Earlier today, Wan Abdul Aziz agreed with Shafee that the purpose of SRC International’s establishment was an “honourable” one.

“It was to be akin to another Petronas kind of company. And had that purpose been achieved… that would propel economy of this country,” Shafee said, to which Wan Abdul Aziz agreed.

Wan Abdul Aziz also agreed with Shafee that the former prime minister was convinced that SRC International required help to achieve its stated purpose.

This “help” meant that there were “occasions that projects needed to be implemented and the paperwork came later”, Shafee said, to which he agreed.

Shafee referred to projects under former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his predecessor Dr Mahathir Mohamad, adding that it was not “out of the ordinary” for a prime minister to request that a loan be expedited.

Witness Afidah Azwa Abdul Aziz, who is the deputy secretary at the Finance Ministry’s strategic investment division, told the court last month that SRC International owes KWAP RM4.15 billion after borrowing RM4 billion seven years ago. – July 11, 2019.