A BANKER told the High Court today that Najib Razak’s Ambank account is “sensitive” as the ex-prime minister is a politically exposed person (PEP).

Ambank’s head of capital market desk Yap Wai Keat said this is because large amounts of money were being remitted in and out of his account.

“It is a sensitive account, so a serious dealer (banker) had to handle it.

“Because, this account belongs to Najib who is a PEP. So, we had to be careful in handling this kind of account,” he told lawyer Wan Aizuddin Wan Mohammed during cross examination.

Wan Aizuddin had asked Yap about the money flowing into Najib’s account, and how Yap knew for certain the money was for Najib as well as why the account is “sensitive”.

Yap, who is the 38th prosecution witness, said that he was informed by Ambank relationship manager Joanna Yu that the funds belonged to Najib.

“Yu had told us who the beneficiary of the money was.”

Wan Aizuddin was questioning Yap who said in his witness statement that Najib had received RM60 million from Prince Faisal bin Turki Al Saud in 2011.

Yap had said that he was tasked with converting funds in US dollars to ringgit, which was remitted in and out of Najib’s account.

He said US$9,999,977 was converted to RM30,449,929.97 on February 24, 2011, and US$9,999,970 was converted to RM30,179,909.46 on June 14, 2011.

However, it could not be verified whether Prince Faisal has any links to the Saudi royal family.

During the prosecution’s opening statement, it claimed that the RM2.08 billion that was remitted into the former prime minister’s account originated from companies linked to fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low as he is popularly known.

However, the defence is claiming that the money is a donation from a friendly Arab nation.

Wan Aizuddin asked Yap again why Najib’s account was deemed sensitive.

Yap said that at that point of time, Najib was prime minister, and as there was a large amount of money being transacted, it would have affected the market.

Wan Aizuddin then asked if Yap handled any other overseas transactions into Najib’s account apart from the funds from Prince Faisal.

Yap said he couldn’t be sure as he needs to review the contracts he has handled.

Najib is accused of misappropriating RM2.28 billion in 1Malaysia Development Bhd funds between 2011 and 2013 when he was prime minister.

Najib is facing 25 charges of abuse of and money laundering. – September 29, 2022.