NAJIB Razak’s SRC International trial enters its 55th day today, with the 57th and final prosecution witness, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission investigating officer Rosli Husain, returning to the stand. 

Yesterday, Rosli told the court Najib did not deny that the signatures on bank documents used to carry out transactions were his when he was questioned by MACC in 2015 and 2018. 

“All these documents were shown to Najib (during MACC investigations) and he confirmed that the signatures were his. There was no denial on his part,” Rosli told the court yesterday.

Najib was questioned on December 5, 2015; May 22, 2018; and, May 24, 2018.     

Rosli spent yesterday afternoon verifying documents related to Najib’s AmBank accounts, which were seized during a raid at its Raja Chulan branch on July 5, 2015.

The documents included letters of instructions by Najib or the mandate holder of his personal bank accounts, former SRC International CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil.

The documents also included thermal receipts, emails and other transactional records related to Najib’s accounts as well as accounts belonging to SRC International subsidiary Gandingan Mentari and its corporate social responsibility partner, Ihsan Perdana.

After the prosecution completes its examination-in-chief this morning, the defence will then begin its cross-examination, which is expected to take two days.

Najib’s charges 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 accounts in 2014 and 2015.

The 66-year-old is charged with three counts of criminal breach of trust, three counts of money-laundering and one count of abuse of power.

Najib’s legal team is led by Muhammad Shafee Abdullah. Attorney-General Tommy Thomas leads the prosecution while Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali presides. 

The Malaysian Insight brings you today’s proceedings live:

1.02pm: Nazlan sets the next hearing to Thursday, 9am.

Sithambaram informs the court that the lawyers have to be before another court on Thursday morning to attend to the 1MDB trial case management.

Nazlan sets the SRC International hearing to begin at 9.30am on Thursday.

Court is adjourned. Nazlan informs the lawyers earlier that he has other cases tomorrow.

12.58pm: Rosli said he also recorded statements from Zeti Akhtar Aziz, the former governor of Bank Negara Malaysia.

He said he didn’t meet her but interviewed her over the phone.

12.32pm: Rosli tells the court that they took Low Taek Jho’s statements on November 27, 2015.

Harvinderjit asks Rosli if he had shown Low the chat logs.

Rosli says he did show them to Low but Low had denied any knowledge of them.

Rosli previously said he had taken Low’s statement in Abu Dhabi.

12.25pm: Harvinderjit asks why she had to come and see Rosli three times. Rosli says he only saw her twice.

Yu previously said she had been to the MACC three times.

12.23pm: Rosli tells the court that he had called Joanna Yu and met her twice in May 2019 to verify the names in her chat logs.

Harvinderjit suggests that he already knew who they were.

Rosli: It’s for the record. What’s the problem?

11.56am: Harvinderjit is now asking Rosli the dates he took statements from certain key witnesses in the course of his investigation.

11.34am: Harvinderjit asks if Rosli took statements from Ranjit Singh (the prosecution’s 55th witness), to which he said “No”.

V. Sithambaram objects to his line of questioning. Harvinderjit tells Nazlan he wants to ask Rosli about when he recorded statements.

Sithambaram said Harvinderjit should ask the witnesses themselves instead of the investigating officer.

11.33am: Rosli said the last witness statement was recorded by MACC in May 2019. That was Shuzairizman Shuib, the Bank Negara investigating officer who was witness No. 46.

11.27am: Court resumes. Harvinderjit now takes Rosli through the aforementioned Sarawak Report article.

In the article, there is a letter from Nik Faisal to AmBank, which is a standing order. Rosli confirms it.

11.19am: Court takes a 10-minute break.

11.01am: Harvinderjit: Do you know who leaked these documents from the bank? Why didn’t you investigate the leak?

Rosli: I don’t know who leaked the documents. Any investigation on this must be carried out by the police.

The leak refers to the Sarawak Report article published on July 2, 2015, four days before MACC started its investigations.

10.59am: Harvinderjit asks Rosli about leaks in MACC about his investigation papers as the banking statements came out in Sarawak Report.

Harvinderjit asks if the bank transaction documents were leaked before the investigation started. Rosli said it can be assumed but he doesn’t know.

10.29am: Rosli is asked if he had investigated other cases other than 1MDB which involved Najib. He replied “no”.

Harvinderjit: I want it clear, yes? I was not involved in any other case involving Najib except for SRC. Agree?

Rosli: Yes, I agree.

Harvinderjit is now showing him some documents to verify. There is some tension as Rosli seems visibly frustrated with the lawyer’s line of questioning earlier about when the investigation ended.

10.25am: On June 12, 2018, the investigation paper was again given to the director when MACC was asked to continue investigations.

Harvinderjit: Have you ever met with Tommy Thomas over these investigations?

Rosli: After I finished my investigations, yes. I think I met him once or twice.

Harvinderjit: You said in your investigations that you were assisted by other officers from different departments, some of them from MACC branches in other states. Which states were they?

Rosli: Pahang, Penang, Johor and Sabah.

10.24am: The investigation paper was given to the MACC director on December 31, 2015, which meant that the investigation was over. 

10.22am: After the report was lodged, Prem went to the SRC International office. This was days before the Bank Negara raid on AmBank.

10.19am: Rosli was made investigating officer on July 6, 2015, a few days after an investigating paper was lodged by an officer, Prem Raj, from the accounting forensics division on July 3.

10.10am: Rosli said based on his knowledge, no MACC officers contacted Clare-Rewcastle Brown, the Sarawak Report editor.

10.08am: Rosli confirms that investigations based a Sarawak Report article, SENSATIONAL FINDINGS! – Prime Minister Najib Razak’s Personal Accounts Linked To 1MDB Money Trail, published on July 2, 2015.

10am: Rosli now being cross-examined by defence counsel Harvinderjit Singh.

9.42am: Rosli continues to verify documents related to SRC International, including board memorandums seized by enforcement authorities in mid-2015.

9.24am: DPP Suhaimi Ibrahim asks Rosli to verify documents involved in his investigation.

9.15am: Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission investigating officer Rosli Hussain takes the stand. – August 20, 2019.