THREE senior ANZ Bank officials were told about the large money transfers into Prime Minister Najib Razak’s personal account in AmBank, according to a news report by Australia’s Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) yesterday.

SBS News said the three senior ANZ officials were part of the AmBank board of directors and they were briefed about the large transactions on multiple occasions between September 2014 and November 2014.

The report said that AmBank’s then chief executive officer Ashok Ramamurthy, a former ANZ official seconded to AmBank, was instructed to report the big money transfers to Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM).

The public-funded broadcaster said it has contacted BNM about when they were notified about the transfers.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) revealed in 2015 that some US$700 million (then about RM2.6 billion) of deposits were wired into Najib’s personal account in AmBank between January 2011 and April 2013.

WSJ further alleged that the money came from state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd via an elaborate system of money movement involving offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands, United States, Switzerland and Singapore.

Najib has denied any wrongdoing and said that the funds came from the royal family in Saudi Arabia to promote moderate Islam and combat terrorism.

According to SBS, the Australian banking giant had three officials on the AmBank’s board as it was the single largest shareholder with a 24% stake, purchased in 2006.

“ANZ’s 24% stake in AmBank, purchased in 2006, gives it the right to appoint key management positions at AmBank and the right to hold up to four seats on the 12-member AmBank board.

According to SBS, ANZ chief executive Shayne Elliott told an Australian parliamentary inquiry in October 2016 that no ANZ employee was involved in what has happened in AmBank.

“AmBank has conducted those investigations. The allegations around AmBank revolve around a company called 1MDB. ANZ has had no relationship with that company. No employees of ANZ have had any involvement in that company or what has alleged to have happened at AmBank,” Elliott said.

According to the SBS report, Elliot said that when staff were seconded from ANZ to AmBank they were no longer ANZ employees, did not report back to ANZ and were only responsible to the AmBank board.

“Once those employees are seconded there, they essentially sever their ties with ANZ almost 100%,” Elliott said. – November 14, 2017.