The eighth day of former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak's criminal trial involving SRC International Sdn Bhd takes place at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysiakini brings you live reports of the proceedings.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- Heated debate over whether to reveal more Ihsan Perdana transactions
- 'Ihsan Perdana received RM50m from 2014-2015'
- Ex-CIMB officer confirms bank processed RM2.5m cheque in 2015
- Witness testifies receiving RM2.5m for defence contract
- Proceedings begin
- Najib arrives at the KL High Court
Heated debate over whether to reveal more Ihsan Perdana transactions
11.50am - The defence team and prosecution get into a heated debate over whether Affin Bank processing officer Rosaiah Mohamed Rosli should produce documents in court related to other purported transactions involving millions of ringgit going into and exiting Ihsan Perdana's bank account.
Defence counsel Harvinderjit Singh says that the discovery application is necessary because the transactions must be looked at holistically, as it appears that SRC International, Gandingan Mentari and others were among the cheque signatories.
Ihsan Perdana and Gandingan Mentari are SRC International subsidaries.
Harvinderjit was referring to revelations concerning other transactions involving 11 cheques, through which millions of ringgit were paid into and taken out of Ihsan Perdana's Affin account.
These transactions do not specifically relate to the seven charges faced by Najib.
"Because the source of the funds is on the document (sought by defence), and are sourced from SRC, it would be relevant to discover where the checks (from Ihsan Perdana) went to," he says.
"There are people in SRC and Gandingan Mentari doing some seriously questionable business, in which money went from SRC and to several entities and then ended up with unknown recipients.
"Some (allegedly) ended up with Najib but a bigger portion went to unknown recipients," Harvinderjit says.
Prosecutor V Sithambaram counters that the current charges before the court only involves RM42 million of SRC International's money, and that the court is not conducting an inquiry into how other funds unrelated to these charges are being spent or used.
"I submit that the principle of relevancy must be applied in the case.
"This application (by defence) is a general one for all transactions involving SRC International, Gandingan Mentari and Ihsan Perdana.
"Our case is only to the RM42 million according to the charges.
"If we go on this track, with other banks involved, we would be going on a wild goose chase with no relevance to the charges," Sithambaram argues.
Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali ultimately allows the defence’s application, but limits it to one transaction involving RM10 million from Ihsan Perdana's Affin account.
'Ihsan Perdana received RM50m from 2014-2015'
10.20am - Rosaiah Mohamed Rosli, the 20th witness, confirms that Ihsan Perdana's Affin Bank account was credited with RM40 million (on Dec 24, 2014), RM5 million (on Feb 5, 2015), and RM5 million (on Feb 6, 2015).
During examination-in-chief by DPP Suhaimi, Rosaiah, who worked as a processing officer at Affin Bank, confirms that Ihsan Perdana's account with the bank was credited with the payment from Gandingan Mentari's AmIslamic bank account.
Ihsan Perdana and Gandingan Mentari are SRC International subsidaries.
Rosaiah, whose job included handling electronic transfers among others, confirms that Affin Bank had received a single credit confirmation advice for the three transactions.
Ex-CIMB officer confirms bank processed RM2.5m cheque in 2015
10.06am - Nineteenth witness Edward Innasi, 58, who was CIMB deputy manager in 2015, confirms that the RM2.5 million cheque was processed by the bank that year.
He says this when shown the cheque by DPP Saifuddin.
Witness testifies receiving RM2.5m for defence contract
9.30am - Eighteenth witness, lawyer Ashraf Abdul Razak, testifies that the law firm he used to work at, Zulqarnain and Co, received RM2.5 million for a defence contract on Feb 2, 2015.
The 48-year-old, who now runs his own law firm, tells DPP Saifuddin during examination-in-chief that the cheque was given to him by Habibul Rahman Kadir, a known corporate figure.
Ashraf says Habibul was involved with his company Fuel Subs House Sdn Bhd.
"It is for a tender to manage fuel petrol subsidy.
"At that time, Habibul told me the payment was for a defence contract," Ashraf says.
AmBank employee Badrul Hisham Mohamad had testified last week that a cheque made payable to Zulqarnain & Co for RM2.5 million had been issued from one of the accounts linked to Najib's SRC International trial.
Day 8 proceedings begin
9.26am - Najib Abdul Razak enters the dock as proceedings begin.
Najib arrives at the KL High Court
8.54am - Clad in a coffee-coloured suit, former premier Najib Abdul Razak calmly enters the courtroom and takes a seat at the front row of the public gallery, to await beginning of proceedings.
He is seen shaking hands with a police officer in court.
The criminal trial of former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, involving the alleged misappropriation of funds from SRC International Sdn Bhd, enters its eighth day at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur.
Najib is being tried on three counts of criminal breach of trust (CBT) under Section 409 of the Penal Code; three counts of money laundering under Section 4(1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 (AMLATFAPUAA) 2001; and one count of abuse of power under Section 23 of the MACC Act 2009.
If convicted, the Pekan MP can be sentenced up to 20 years' jail, whipping and fine for the CBT charges; 20 years' jail and a fine not less than five times the amount involved or RM10,000, whichever is higher, for the abuse of power charge; and 15 years' jail and a fine up to RM15 million or five times the amount involved, whichever is higher, for the money laundering charges.
The trial, being presided over by judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, is expected to kick off at 9am today with testimonies from witnesses who could testify that several entities – political and non-political alike – received between thousands to millions of ringgit from AmBank accounts linked to Najib's SRC International case.
Today, the prosecution may call witnesses linked to these entities, such as Solar Shine Sdn Bhd, Zulqarnain & Co, prominent businessperson Lim Soon Peng, law firm Hafarizam Wan & Aisha Mubarak, and SRC International-linked company, Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd, among others.
Last Friday, fifth prosecution witness Badrul Hisham Mohamad, the former manager of AmBank's cheque clearance centre, testified that among the 17 AmIslamic cheques cleared in 2015 include RM1 million to Upko, RM1 million to Penang Umno’s communications unit, RM300,000 to Johor Bahru Umno, and RM50,000 to Padang Serai Umno chief Asmadi Abu Talib.
Badrul Hisham confirmed this after being presented with the cheques, which were among the documents and items seized in a Bank Negara raid on the Jalan Raja Chulan branch of AmBank on July 6, 2015.
Yesterday, the court heard testimony from four witnesses that touched on part of the money trail from the Ambank accounts.
The 14th witness, Centre for Strategic Engagement Sdn Bhd director Rita Sim Sai Hoon testified that she received a total of RM300,000 from Najib for the research outfit to carry out daily analysis of Chinese content in the Chinese vernacular dailies from December 2014 to January 2015.
The 15th witness, former Upko treasury-general Marcus Mojigoh told the court that the Sabah-based political party received RM1 million from Najib to conduct corporate social responsibility project, Projek Sayang.
The 16th witness, Layang-Layang assemblyperson Onn Hafiz Ghazi, a relative of Najib, testified that he was paid RM240,000 by the accused through company Vital Spire Sdn Bhd to operate the now-defunct Malaysian Digest news portal.
The 17th witness, Najib’s former political secretary Wong Nai Chee, testified that the accused had paid RM238,914 via cheque to Lim, to pay for the administration of Facebook page Ah Jib Gor and pay for “objective” content writers for Akademi Kewartawanan dan Informasi Taima.
Attorney-General Tommy Thomas leads the 13-person prosecution team, comprised of deputy public prosecutors Sulaiman Abdullah, V Sithambaram, Manoj Kurup, Ishak Mohd Yusoff, Donald Joseph Franklin, Suhaimi Ibrahim, Muhammad Saifuddin Hashim Musaimi, Sulaiman Kho Kheng Fuei, Budiman Lutfi Mohamed, Mohd Ashraf Adrin Kamaril, Muhammad Izzat Fauzan, and Mohd Ashraf Adrin Kamaril.
Najib is represented by a 13-person defence team led by veteran criminal lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.
Other members of the defence team are former solicitor-general II Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden, Harvinderjit Singh, Kamarul Hisham Kamaruddin, Chong Loong Men, Devanandan S Subramaniam, Farhan Read, Wan Aizuddin Wan Mohammed, Rahmat Hazlan, Muhammad Farhan Shafee, Tiara Katrina Fuad, Nur Syahirah Hanapiah, and Zahria Eleena Redza. - Mkini
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