THE Kuala Lumpur High Court has denied a request by Najib Razak’s lawyers to include in the ongoing SRC International trial a bulk of evidentiary documents set for his upcoming 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) trial.

The defence lawyers said they wanted to show that transactions amounting to well over RM2 billion also occurred in the same bank accounts under Najib’s name. 

This would support their contention that Najib may not have been fully aware of all the transactions carried out in his name. 

Evidence on transactions was sought today from the prosecution’s latest witness, Bank Negara analyst Shuzairizman Shuib, who led a digital forensics team to a raid on AmBank’s Raja Chulan branch on July 6, 2015. 

Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali ruled, however, that transactions from 2011 to 2013 are not to be admitted as they precede the 2014 and 2015 dates of Najib’s criminal offences in the current SRC International case. 

Nazlan, however, allowed the witness to retrieve transaction information in 2014, filed under Appendix C, which stated the purpose of credit transactions. This information is also given to the bank’s relationship managers.

According to court documents sighted by The Malaysian Insight, the transactions amount to some RM50 million, involving Blackrock Commodities Global Ltd and Visa Equity International Pte Ltd. 

Both firms have been linked in previous media reports to fugitive financier Low Taek Jho. 

The court heard today that the 2015 raid recovered data from three relationship managers – Joanna Yu, Krystle Yap and Daniel Lee. The trio were tasked with liaising with holders of bank accounts linked to Najib and 1MDB, as well as its former subsidiary SRC International.  

Prosecutors have told the court that Yu will testify. 

Earlier, defence counsel Harvinderjit Singh had asked Nazlan for the witness to be excused as he has yet to go through a 500-page chat transcript from Yu’s phone, adding that he will continue his cross examination on Monday. The prosecution did not object.

Last month, former SRC International chairman Ismee Ismail told the court that many top executives in the company were close associates of Low.

Ismee agreed with the defence’s suggestion that Low knew or were close with former SRC International CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, SRC International director Jerome Lee and 1MDB finance director Terrance Geh.

Najib’s lawyers had maintained that the former prime minister was misled by bankers in charge of government-linked accounts.

The defence contends that these bankers cooperated with individuals, such as Low, to acquire funds from SRC International, possibly with the assistance of senior executives.

Lead defence counsel Muhammmad Shafee Abdullah has gone on record to say that Najib’s bank accounts were manipulated without his authorisation by “outsiders like Jho Low and others, and some people (at) the bank”.

Shafee has also said the defence was particularly interested in the communications between Yu and Low, saying it would help prove their case.

Low, a fugitive believed to be residing in China, has been indicted in the United States and is wanted in Malaysia in connection with the 1MDB case for allegedly conspiring to siphon up to US$4.5 billion.

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. 

The 66-year-old faces up to 20 years imprisonment if convicted. 

Najib is represented by a dozen lawyers led by Shafee, while Attorney-General Tommy Thomas leads the prosecution. – July 11, 2019.