FORMER AmBank relationship manager Joanna Yu was in close communication with former SRC International CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil when it came to Najib Razak’s accounts, the high court heard today.

Yu, who was a prosecution witness in the SRC International trial, had once simultaneously handled the AmBank accounts of SRC International, its subsidiary Gandingan Mentari Bhd and as well as those of the former prime minister’s.

“I am not sure how these accounts came to be under the responsibility of Joanna Yu, but we had looked after these clients dealings with Ambank as a team,” testified former AmBank relationship manager Krystle Yap today.

The 33-year-old second defence witness said she took up the post of relationship manager with the bank in May 2014, after which she took instructions from Yu and more senior officer Daniel Lee.

On Najib’s accounts ending 880, 906 and 898, Yap said she had no personal dealings with the Pekan MP nor with Nik Faisal, who was Najib’s mandate holder.

“I did however send emails to Nik Faisal as and when instructed to do so by Joanna Yu,” said Yap.

Najib’s charges are linked to RM4 billion in loans issued to SRC International in 2011 and 2012, of which he is accused of receiving RM42 million in December 2014 and February 2015.    

When reading out her witness statement before Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazli today, Yap was questioned by defence counsel Farhan Read on Nik Faisal’s role in relation to Najib’s accounts.

Yap: I was told that he was authorised to liaise with the bank with regards to those accounts.

Farhan: Who told you this?

Yap: Joanna Yu. I also believe there are written letters from the account holder to provide the authority to Nik Faisal.

Yap said she also dealt with former 1Malaysia Development Bhd executive director of finance Terence Geh and former SRC International chief financial officer See Yoke Peng in relation to the SRC International.

“As SRC International is one of my corporate clients, I do receive instructions and correspond with them via email, phone calls or WhatsApp. My dealings with them were direct or through or under instructions of Joanna Yu or Daniel Lee. I acted on their instructions whenever I received them from See Yoke Peng and Terence Geh.”

Yap also mentioned communications between Yu and Kee Kok Thiam – who is an associate of Low Taek Jho – in relation to deposits into Najib’s accounts.

Farhan: During the course of 2014 and 2015, several sizeable cash deposits had been made into some of the Datuk Seri Najib’s accounts. What do you know of the circumstances behind these deposits?

Yap: There were several occasions where Joanna Yu had instructed me to meet with Kee Kok Thiam in order to facilitate cash deposits, which the latter had intended to make into Datuk Seri Najib’s various accounts. From what I was told, this was because those accounts had become overdrawn.

Farhan: Why was Kee Kok Thiam making these deposits into Najib’s accounts?

Yap: I don’t personally know the reasons for which he was making these deposits. I was merely acting on Joanna Yu’s instructions to expedite Kee Kok Thiam’s dealings with the branch. I merely arranged for branch personnel to attend to him straight away. Essentially I just arranged for him to “cut the queue” so to speak.

However, when cross-examined by ad hoc prosecutor V. Sithambaram, Yap said no reg flags were raised when Kee deposited money into Najib’s accounts.

Sithambaram had questioned the witness whether she knew if Bank Negara Malaysia had ever flagged Najib’s accounts over suspicious transactions between 2011 to 2015, to which Yap replied the central bank did not.

Yap said Yu would also inform former AmBank Group managing director Cheah Tek Kuang regarding incoming funds. Cheah, who was a prosecution witness, who would then inform then Bank Negara governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz.

The witness also said she never heard of any complaints by SRC International and Gandingan Mentari regarding the remittance of RM42 million into Najib’s accounts

Yu previously denied the defence’s suggestion that she worked with Nik Faisal and Low to defraud SRC International. Both Nik Faisal and Low are fugitives.

Yu and her former employer, AMMB Holdings Bhd and AmBank Islamic Bhd, are the subject of a suit by Najib filed on December 9, last year.

Other unauthorised third parties named included Kee; former Yayasan Rakyat 1Malaysia (YR1M) CEO and prosecution witness Ung Su Ling; and group executive director of Putrajaya Perdana Bhd (PPB) Jerome Lee.

Yu filed an application to strike out the suit, set to be heard on April 15 at the Kuala Lumpur High Court. – February 4, 2020.