FORMER Bank Negara (BNM) governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz told the Kuala Lumpur High Court today Najib Razak had asked her to clear his name over a sum of RM2.6 billion in his personal bank account.

Zeti said she however refused to obey the former prime minister’s request as she had no knowledge about the latter’s bank account.

“I was called to the Prime Minister’s Office. He (Najib) made a request for me to issue a statement that he had done nothing wrong in his account.

“I informed him I couldn’t issue such a statement because I did not have knowledge of the transactions that had occurred in his account. He accepted my decision,” said the 46th prosecution witness at Najib’s 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) fund misappropriation trial.

She said soon after the meeting, she received a call from a cabinet member who made the same request for her to issue the statement, to which she gave the same answer.

Zeti, 76, who was BNM governor for 16 years from 2000, told the court she had no knowledge of the RM2.6 billion remitted into Najib’s account at the material time.

“Regarding the allegations made by Najib during his interview with Malaysiakini that was published on July 2, 2018, in which he claimed I was aware of the RM2.6 billion in his account at AmIslamic Bank Bhd and that I did not raise any questions about it, I wish to unequivocally state that I had no knowledge of the transactions that were undertaken in his account at that material time,” she said.

Zeti said all account holders in the financial system are protected by the banking secrecy provisions in the legislation, so no one can have access to any account unless a financial institution detects suspicious activity in the account and reports it to BNM.

She said Najib’s claim is false as at the material time, she had no knowledge the sum of RM2.6 billion had been remitted into his account, or that the funds belonged to 1MDB.

Zeti, who served the central bank for 35 years, said the main concern at the time was that AmBank did not report more than 500 transactions linked to the account that were suspicious or irregular to BNM, as required under the Anti-Money Laundering/Countering Financing of Terrorism regulation.

“Following the investigations, AmBank acknowledged these non-disclosures, (of) false reporting and its failure in compliance with the prudential regulations.

“AmBank paid the highest penalty ever in our history, amounting to RM59 million, and was required to set aside a minimum of RM100 million for remedial action to strengthen its internal systems for Anti-Money Laundering/Countering Financing of Terrorism compliance,” she said.

When asked by deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib, Zeti told the court no one in her family had taken 1MDB money.

Najib, 70, faces four charges of using his position to obtain bribes amounting to RM2.3 billion belonging to 1MDB and 21 charges of money laundering of the same amount.

The trial before judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues on August 14. – Bernama, July 27, 2023.