AMBANK relationship manager Joanna Yu turned to Low Taek Jho for help when Najib Razak’s current accounts were overdrawn or had other issues that needed to be addressed, the court heard today.

Yu testified that she had to contact Low – better known as Jho Low – when she could not get in touch with SRC International CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, whom Najib appointed as the mandate holder to his accounts and that of SRC International.

A mandate holder is empowered to confirm written instructions but is not authorised to sign cheques or make withdrawals, the Kuala Lumpur High Court heard.

During examination by ad hoc prosecutor V. Sithambaram, Yu was asked why she contacted Low when he was neither the account holder nor the mandate holder.

Yu: He wasn’t the mandate holder to give us written transfers or instructions. He was, however, someone who facilitated the accounts to be opened.

He brought the MD (managing director) to (Najib’s house) to sign the forms. At the time, he was the contact between the account holder and the bank when the mandate letter was given.

Many times, I received messages from him asking about Datuk Najib’s account balance or that his account was overdrawn.

V. Sithambaram: Were there any other reason he contacted you?

Yu: He seemed to be in contact with (the) account holder or the mandate holder. There are instances when I can’t get hold of Nik Faisal (but) he got hold of him.

I believe that he picked up (the telephone) for Jho Low after he didn’t pick up for us.

Sithambaram: How would you describe Jho Low’s role in these accounts of Najib’s? 

Yu: I would think he may not have the mandate to give us written instructions but he does facilitate in contacting the mandate holder or addressing when there are insufficient funds.

Yu added that she never received any written instruction from Low.

Yu testified that she assisted in opening two of Najib’s account – a current account and a savings account – on January 13, 2011, and January 18, 2011, respectively.

She said she also assisted in the approval of two credit cards: a Visa platinum card and a Mastercard platinum card on February 11, 2011.

Yu said she later assisted Najib to open three more current accounts on July 31, 2013.

She also said that, based on the terms stated in the account opening agreement forms, Najib remained liable for the actions of the mandate holder in the same way as if he had given the instructions and confirmations.

However, Yu said the scope of her role as relationship manager did not include access to Najib’s accounts.

“We did not have access to the system. We did not enter anything. We don’t even check the balance.”

“We are only the liaison, we only enter the relevant information for our clients,” she said, adding that she could not access Najib’s account from her terminal.

“We always have to call the branch to know the balance,” she said.

Yu said she met Low in 2008 when the latter sought funding for a company, Majestic Masterpiece Sdn Bhd.

She said he was later introduced to former managing director Cheah Tek Kuang.

Regarding, her conversations with Nik Faisal on the BlackBerry Messenger, Yu said: “Essentially, I emailed him instructions to which he had to respond, or there was an overdraft or that he had to sign original documents, mostly on accounts that were overdrawn.”

Yu said she never contacted Najib because “I had instructions that I was to check with Nik, so I just followed the mandate letter. We received a mandate letter and I didn’t have access to him”.

The charges against Najib are linked to RM4 billion in loans issued to SRC International in 2011 and 2012, 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 is represented by a dozen lawyers led by Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.

Attorney-General Tommy Thomas leads the prosecution, while Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali is the presiding judge. – July 22, 2019.