NAJIB Razak had actual knowledge of the RM42 million from SRC International credited into his personal accounts, lead prosecutor V. Sithambaram told the Court of Appeal today.

“The appellant’s assertion that he had no such knowledge is patently false and untrue,” the lawyer said in the former prime minister’s appeal against his conviction over graft charges involving the RM42 million.

The funds belonging to SRC had been evidently proven to be misappropriated or converted to Najib’s own use, Sithambaram added.

“Now, what remains is to prove that the appellant committed them dishonestly or with a dishonest intention.”

Sithambaram raised the testimonies of Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd (IPSB) managing director Dr Shamsul Anwar Sulaiman, who was the prosecution’s 37th witness during the SRC trials at Kuala Lumpur High Court last year.

“Shamsul had testified that he met Najib in person in July 2015 and informed him of the monies that were transferred from IPSB into the appellant’s personal bank accounts.

“Similarly, Ung Su Ling, the 49th prosecution witness, also testified that she met Najib in person mid-2015 to explain about the monies that were transferred from IPSB to the appellant’s personal bank accounts.”

The prosecutor said Najib’s defence of “I don’t know” is “a red herring”.

He added that it is “mind blogging” that a sitting prime minister and finance minister would have allowed RM42 million to be transferred into his personal bank account.

“And the fact that the Najib took no action after knowing that former SRC director Ismee Ismail and former chief executive officer of Yayasan Rakyat 1 Malaysia Ung Su Ling has caused the transfer, shows that he was complicit to the transfer.

“For the appellant to deny knowledge now of the origin and trail of the RM42 million from SRC is to distance himself from the charges and is clearly an afterthought and self-serving evidence that is baseless.”

Besides highlighting the testimonies by prosecution witnesses, Sithambaram also showed the court transcripts of the Blackberry Messenger chats between AmBank Relationship Manager Joanna Yu Ging Ping and fugitive businessman and close friend of Najib, Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low.

The lawyer showed the court text messages between Low and Najib.

Sithambaram paired the conversations with the bank account statements that supported proof that Najib had knowledge of the status and transactions involving his personal accounts.

“Najib had knowingly used the credit card after liaising with Jho Low and the actions of Nik Faisal in settling the credit card payments shows that the appellant was at all time hands on with his banking transactions.”

Najib himself had also admitted that his texts with Low were genuine when the former prime minister was cross-examined earlier, Sithambaram said.

Najib, 67, is currently appealing against his sentence and conviction by Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, who on July 28 last year, convicted and sentenced him to 12 years’ jail and fined him RM210 million after finding him guilty on seven charges of criminal breach of trust (CBT), money-laundering and abuse of position committed in the fund’s embezzlement.

The Pekan MP is currently out on bail of RM2 million in two sureties.

The hearing before Judge Karim Abdul Jalil, Court of Appeal judge leading the three-man bench, with judges Has Zanah Mehat and Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera, continues. – April 20, 2021.