Najib's SRC Trial: Najib says he was hands-on on Malaysia’s finances but let others handle his

DATUK Seri Najib Razak told the High Court last week that he ran a tight ship managing the country’s finances but was far more relaxed about his personal finances. He said he did not know how much he had in his bank accounts even though he wrote hundreds of cheques — some for millions of ringgit — relying instead on his “sense” of how much he had.

The former prime minister and finance minister testified last week that he rarely looked at his personal account balances and allowed his former principal private secretary, the late Datuk Azlin Alias, and Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, the former managing director and CEO of SRC International Sdn Bhd, to handle his personal finances in connection with his AmBank accounts. Only on occasion would he enquire of Azlin if there was sufficient balance in his accounts, he added.

His nonchalant attitude to his accounts was in sharp contrast to his claims of how he had developed Malaysia’s economy during his nine years at its helm, particularly in 2017 when economic growth was 5.7%, “ahead of the four Asian tigers that year”.

Indeed, he told the court, he appointed himself the finance minister because he felt he was “the right man for the job”.

“We had the longest bull run and Bursa Malaysia touched 1,900 points. The ringgit was stable,” he said in response to questions from Attorney General Tan Sri Tommy Thomas.

Taking the witness stand to answer charges levelled against him at the SRC International trial, the Pekan MP listed all his achievements to the point where he had to stop himself short to tell the court that he was not being boastful.

His confidence, however, faltered when ad hoc prosecutor Datuk V Sithambaram cross-examined him over his issuance of millions of ringgit in cheques.

Najib said he had a “sense” that there was money in his private account without truly needing to check his account balance.

Sithambaram:When you were at the PMO (Prime Minister’s Office), you checked with Azlin, but when you were at home who did you check with?

Najib:I didn’t check with anybody. I just issued the cheques.

Sithambaram:But you issued millions of dollars in cheques from your home. You issued RM2.5 million to [former aide Datuk Habibul Rahman Kadir Shah].

Najib:I had a sense of the money in the account.

“Nobody issues cheques without knowing the balance in the account. You are the finance minister on top of that,” Sithambaram hit back.

Najib brushed off the question, stating that while he was “careful with government funds”, he “did not pay much attention to his personal accounts. To this day, I have assistants to look into this and you can ask them”.

Sithambaram said Najib could call them as his witnesses.

On the RM42 million that had been transferred into his personal accounts from SRC, Sithambaram asked Najib whether he had any knowledge of the funds in his account at the time.

Najib said he only knew about the RM42 million in his account “when it became an issue” and that he had always been under the impression that the money in his accounts was a donation from Arab royalty, and not from SRC’s coffers.

Sithambaram:You are saying the source of the funds in your accounts are Arab donations?

Najib:Correct.

Sithambaram:You had no knowledge of any other funds being paid into your accounts?

Najib:Until it became an issue.

Sithambaram:You wrote cheques amounting to millions of ringgit for political use.

Najib:Yes.

Sithambaram:I just need to know, does your cheque show the balance or note of credit into the account?

Najib:No, no.

Sithambaram:So, you don’t know the balance of money in your account, but you were issuing cheques?

Najib:I knew there was money there.

Sithambaram:It is your case that you do not know any other money came into your account other than Arab donations?

Najib:Betul [That’s right].

Despite Najib’s deflections, Sithambaram put it to him that he had full knowledge of his finances and accounts and that he knew that the RM42 million in question had gone into his accounts.

Visibly frustrated by the line of questioning, Najib’s voice grew louder and shriller: “I disagree, I disagree totally.”

Clueless about credit card limit

Najib also admitted to not knowing that the limit on each of his credit cards in the mid-2010s was RM3 million even as he was forking out up to RM3.5 million for jewellery.

“I just used them while overseas. But they were not frequently used,” he said.

Former AmBank relationship manager Joanna Yu Ging Ping told the High Court in July that prior to Najib’s purchase of jewellery amounting to over RM3 millionwhile abroad, on Aug 12, 2014, she received a message from businessman Low Taek Jho asking her and the bank to ensure the purchase via Najib’s Visa Platinum and Platinum Mastercard credit cards were approved.

Yu also said Low had contacted her on Najib’s purchase of a Chanel watch in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Dec 22, 2014, for his wife Rosmah Mansor. Yu said Low had asked her to check whether there were problems with Najib’s credit cards.

“I told him that we checked and there should not be any problem with the US$100,000 purchase as the credit limit was RM3 million. In the end, the transaction was cleared to the amount of US$130,625 (RM458,585) that was billed via Visa Platinum,” she said.

The cards were used to pay for several transactions between 2014 and 2015, including €763,500 (about RM3.52 million) for eight transactions with Swiss luxury jeweller De Grisogono in Italy in August 2014; US$130,625 in Honolulu, Hawaii, in December 2014; and RM127,017 at Shangri-La Bangkok in January 2015.

A fortnight ago, Najib added a new twist to the trial by filing a case against AmBank Islamic Bhd, Yu and AMMB Holdings Bhd for breach of duty as he claimed that the bank and Yu had disclosed information to Low — an unauthorised third party.

Najib alleged that they were negligent in affairs concerning his four bank accounts ending in the digits 694, 880, 898 and/or 906.

He had testified previously that Low ought not to have managed his accounts as only Nik Faisal — reportedly recommended by Azlin — had been the mandate holder of Najib’s accounts, and authorised to receive his bank statements and act on his behalf.

Last week’s hearing was the last for Najib’s cases in 2019. Hearing before Judge Mohd Nazlan Ghazali continues on Jan 6, 2020.