Najib may have thought RM42 million was donation, says defence lawyer

Bede Hong Timothy Achariam Bede Hong, Timothy Achariam Updated 6 years ago · Published on 29 Jul 2019 1:45PM · 6 Comments

Former prime minister Najib Razak may have thought the RM42 million found in his account was part of donations received during the period, the defence argues in the SRC International trial today. – The Malaysian Insight pic by Seth Akmal, July 29, 2019.

NAJIB Razak may have been under the impression that the RM42 million in his accounts were part of donations due to transactions amounting to hundreds of millions into other accounts a few years prior, a court heard today.

Najib is facing seven criminal charges for receiving RM42 million in two AmBank private accounts in December 26, 2014 and February 10, 2015. Those current accounts, ending with 880 and 906 were opened in 2013.

Defence lawyers, referring to documents and communication transcripts, have been asking former AmBank relationship manager Joanna Yu to verify transactions into Najib’s current account ending with the numbers “694”.

They included RM100 million received in four tranches in 2011 and US$681 million received from Tanore Finance Corp in 2013.

Defence counsel Harvinderjit Singh also referred to the transactions via chat logs between Yu and fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, to which ad hoc prosecutor V. Sithambaram objected.

Sithambaram questioned the relevance of the transactions prior to the ones that Najib is being charged with. He said the transactions that Harvinderjit were referring to involved funds linked to 1Malaysia Development Bhd, adding that to continue that line of questioning would be a “waste of time”.

He said the funds were “used up well before the charges.”

Harvinderjit said the transactions indicated that Low had been in communication with the bank just as the transactions occurred.

He argued that funds entering Najib’s newer accounts appeared to have originated from the same source.

“Even if it is used up, that is not the point. The point is that my client, in his mind thought it was a donation. This is relevant because his state of mind is where we are going with this.”

Earlier, Harvinderjit also asked Yu on use of the code names which Low applied for currencies – which were pies for US dollars, satay for ringgit and chips for pound sterling.

Yu said the nomenclatures were chosen by Low, to which Harvinderjit suggested that chips was a reference to fish and chips.

Earlier, Yu verified that the US$100 million transactions in 2011 came with support letters from Saudi Arabia. 

She also verified that US$681 million was deposited into Najib’s account in 2013 from Tanore Finance Corp, a firm that will be a central focus in Najib’s coming 1MDB trial.

Harvinderjit suggested that the US$620 million, being underutilised, were returned, to which Yu agreed. During the repayment process, Yu said AmBank was informed by Bank Negara to be wary of moving the foreign exchange market when purchasing US currency in that amount. 

AmBank manager R. Uma Devi told the court in April that a total of RM1.9 billion was credited into Najib’s account ending with the numbers “694” from 2011 to 2013. 

Portions of the money were purportedly donations from a Prince Faisal al Turki as well as the Saudi Arabia finance ministry. Uma testified that Bank Negara was informed of the purposes of the transactions. 

The amounts included RM304 million in 2011 and RM756 million in 2012 purportedly from Prince Faisal and another RM324 million purportedly from the Saudi ministry. 

Defence lawyers have suggested that Low has manipulated Najib’s accounts, along with the help of others, to defraud SRC International. 

Najib 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 20 years imprisonment if convicted. – July 29, 2019.

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Comments

  • Sorry mate but if it was a donation did you not thank the donor? Its common courtesy to do do.

    Posted 6 years ago by Malaysia New hope · Reply

    • There was never a donation in the first place. Its 100% stolen public funds that went into Najibs accounts as part of his share with Jho Low and others.

      Posted 6 years ago by Rupert Lum · Reply

  • It's all true, he's telling the truth.. I gave him the donation! Why don't you Malaysians believe him?!!

    Posted 6 years ago by Arab Prince · Reply

  • I wonder if as PM you can't even managed your banks accounts how do we expect you to govern and managed this nation forward? At the very least with the old man in charge we are back on the world map and if it's with you we would still be hearing statements after statements, slides after slides, blue prints afetr blue prints and the infamous 1this after another but in actual facts going no where while behinds the scenes you and your kayu cabinets enrich yourself by making your own bloody law and contracts after contracts. We Malaysian knew you were plundering the nation wealth when you did not come forward clean when 1MDB news broke.

    Posted 6 years ago by Teruna Kelana · Reply

  • For najib
    Not aware
    Doesn't know
    I thought this and that
    Seriously u are that dumb not knowing ur accounts

    Posted 6 years ago by Lan Lan · Reply

  • Laughable.

    Posted 6 years ago by CD E · Reply