A MALAYSIAN Anti-Corruption Commission investigative team sent to Saudi Arabia did not meet Prince Saud Abdulaziz Majid Al Saud, who allegedly signed four letters acknowledging donations from the royal family to Najib Razak, the Kuala Lumpur High Court heard today.

MACC assistant commissioner Mohd Nasharudin Amir testified in the former prime minister’s SRC International Sdn Bhd trial that he was part of a five-man team that flew to Riyadh on November 27, 2015 to investigate the US$681 million (RM2.6 billion at the time) that entered Najib’s bank account two years prior.

During cross-examination by ad hoc prosecutor V. Sithambaram, the ninth defence witness said the team only managed to take a statement from Mohammad Abdullah Al Koman, purportedly the prince’s representative.

Sithambaram: Is there any documentary evidence obtained from the time MACC was in Saudi Arabia?

Nasharudin: There is none.

Sithambaram: Could you ascertain, from the people interviewed at the palace (in Riyadh), Prince Saud Abdulaziz?

Nasharudin: I could not.

Sithambaram: Was the person interviewed by (MACC officer Hafaz Nazar) Prince Saud Abdulaziz, who signed the said four letters?

Nasharudin: No.

Sithambaram: According to the statement that you gave just now, the person interviewed was Mohammad Abdullah Al Koman. He was the one who signed the MACC statement?

Nasharudin: Yes.

Sithambaram: Could anyone else sign the MACC statement, other than Mohammad Abdullah Al Koman?

Nasharudin: No one else.

Sithambaram was refuting an earlier suggestion by the defence that the letters to Najib are authentic because MACC interviewed Abdullah, who represented the prince.

Nasharudin testified that the team that travelled to Saudi Arabia also included MACC money-laundering division chief Fikri Abd Rahim, MACC investigation director Mohd Azam Baki and then deputy public prosecutor Dzulkifli Ahmad.

Dzulkifli was appointed MACC chief on August 1, 2016, during Najib’s time in office. He resigned a week after the 2018 general election, which saw the fall of the Barisan Nasional administration.

He is slated to testify as a defence witness.

Nasharudin was appointed investigating officer for the 1Malaysia Development Bhd-Tanore case on August 18, 2015, and was replaced on May 18, 2018.

His appointment came after a purge of the MACC investigative teams probing into Najib’s 1MDB-linked cases, following the termination of Abdul Gani Patail’s services as attorney-general on July 27, 2015.

Najib has said he received donations from the Saudi royal family from 2011 to 2015, when King Abdullah Abdulaziz Al Saud died.

He submitted as evidence the four letters purportedly signed by Prince Saud Abdulaziz that were addressed to Ambank from 2011 to 2013.

The 66-year-old faces seven criminal charges for receiving RM42 million in SRC International funds between December 2014 and February 2015. He maintains that he was under the impression that the sum came from Saudi royals.

Prosecutors have said the funds are linked to 1MDB, and that Najib conspired with others to defraud the entity, including its former subsidiary, SRC International.

Najib is represented by a dozen lawyers led by Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, while Attorney-General Tommy Thomas heads the prosecution.

The trial before judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali resumes on Monday. – February 27, 2020.