The ninth 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
- AmBank did not receive any discrepancy alert from Najib
- Defence objects to DPP's 'leading questions'
- Bank Negara visit 'not so much of a raid'
- Najib closed 3 accounts, transferred balances to Ihsan Perdana - witness
- Shafee 'on the way', bank manager returns to witness stand
- Judge arrives, proceedings begin
- Najib arrives at KL High Court
AmBank did not receive any discrepancy alert from Najib
10.40am - It is the duty of AmBank customers to check their monthly bank account statements and contact the bank within 14 days should they find any discrepancies, said AmBank Jalan Raja Chulan branch manager R Uma Devi.
During examination-in-chief by DPP V Sithambaram, Uma testifies that there is no record of such notification from Najib with regard to his three bank accounts ending 906, 880 and 898.
Sithambaram: How often are bank statements given to (AmBank) customers?
Uma: (On) monthly basis.
Sithambaram: When you send statements to customers, what is the duty of the customers?
Uma: (The duty of customers) is to check the transactions (in their statement), and within 14 days to come back to the bank if there is any discrepancy whatsoever.
Sithambaram: And as bank manager of AmBank Jalan Raja Chulan, after you took charge of the branch, are you aware or filed any records of any notification by Datuk Seri Najib to AmBank notifying of any errors, discrepancies, irregularities, unauthorised withdrawals, debits, fraudulent transactions or entries made without mandate?
Uma: To my knowledge and record that I had, no.
Defence objects to DPP's 'leading questions'
9.48am - Najib's defence counsel Harvinderjit (photo below) objects to DPP Suhaimi's questioning of witness AmBank's Jalan Raja Chulan branch manager R Uma Devi over the Bank Negara raid.
"(DPP) must obtain evidence by open-ended questions, not ask witness to confirm (so and so). Where is the credibility?" the defence lawyer objects.
Suhaimi counters that the matter of the raid is not challenged and that if he changes his line of questioning, it would drag on the matter.
Harvinderjit, however, says that not every part of the raid event has been established.
Justice Nazlan then orders Suhaimi to rephrase his question regarding what folders that Uma handed to Bank Negara officers on the day of the raid.
Bank Negara visit 'not so much of a raid'
9.46am - AmBank's Jalan Raja Chulan branch manager R Uma Devi confirms that Bank Negara officers visited the branch in Kuala Lumpur on July 6, 2015.
However, she says to DPP Suhaimi that it was not so much of a raid, because bank operations were still ongoing and not disrupted at the time.
"I would not say it was a raid. Operations at branch still running (sic).
"Bank Negara officers came to see the branch manager and I brought them to the upper floor," she tells Suhaimi during examination-in-chief.
Najib closed 3 accounts, transferred balances to Ihsan Perdana - witness
9.35am - The court hears from AmBank Jalan Raja Chulan manager R Uma Devi that a cheque worth RM3.5 million was issued from Najib's AmBank account to an account belonging to "Hafarizam Wan Aisha and Mubarak".
The cheque dated Jan 21, 2015, was debited to the recipient's account on Jan 22, 2015.
However, according to Uma, the bank made a mistake, which saw only RM3,500 credited into the recipient's account.
"I was informed that there was an action to rectify (the mistake), but I am not sure what was the action taken by the cheque processing centre in AmBank," she tells the court.
Uma then testifies that in March 2015, Najib ordered for the closure of three of his AmBank accounts, which he had opened on July 31, 2013.
She testified that the three accounts had a total balance of RM103,361.17 when it was closed.
According to Uma, in the letter requesting for closure of the accounts dated March 3, 2015, Najib had also instructed the bank to transfer all the balances to Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd's bank account.
Ihsan Perdana is a subsidiary of SRC International.
This instruction was carried out by the bank through a cheque dated March 9, 2015, she says.
Earlier, Uma in her testimony spoke about transfers of millions of ringgit between the three accounts prior to the closures.
These transfers, according to her, were made under the order of Nik Faisal Ariff, an authorised signatory for the accounts.
Shafee 'on the way', bank manager returns to witness stand
9.10am - Deputy public prosecutor Suhaimi Ibrahim introduces members of the prosecution and defence for the day.
The defence team, however, is short of its lead counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.
Defence counsel Harvinderjit Singh tells the court that the senior lawyer is still on his way, but they understand if the court wants to proceed without waiting for him.
The hearing starts with prosecution's 21st witness R Uma Devi, who is AmBank's Jalan Raja Chulan branch manager, returning to the witness stand.
Judge arrives, proceedings begin
9.08am - Najib enters the dock as Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali (photo below) enters the courtroom to begin proceedings.
Najib arrives at KL High Court
8.55am - Decked out in a dark blue suit, former premier Najib Abdul Razak takes a seat at the front row in court as he awaits the ninth day of his trial to begin.
Two cushions and a bottle of water are seen in the dock, where the accused will be seated during proceedings.
The criminal trial of former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak involving the alleged misappropriation of funds from SRC International Sdn Bhd enters its ninth day at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.
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 AmBank Raja Chulan branch manager R Uma Devi continuing her testimony over the purported money trail of millions of ringgit contained in a trove of documents seized from the bank in a Bank Negara raid on July 6, 2015.
Yesterday in a testimony that took up much of the day, the 21st witness revealed among others that the AmBank branch had on Aug 11, 2014, received debit instruction to transfer RM3,282,734.16 from Najib's AmBank account and split the money into the bank’s two credit cards.
She testified that the letter ordered RM449,586.95 to be credited into a Visa Platinum credit card and the balance of RM2,833,147.21 to be credited into a Mastercard Platinum credit card, whereby it was not stated to whom the credit cards belong to.
Uma Devi also revealed that Najib had authorised SRC International director Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil to manage the former's five AmBank accounts in his capacity as the accounts’ authorised signatory.
The witness’ testimony pointed towards a series of transactions involving millions of ringgit going in and out of the accounts between 2013 and 2015, with RM64 million alone being credited into one of these accounts between July 8, 2014 and Feb 10, 2015.
This includes a sum of RM27 million from Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd, a company that carried out corporate social responsibility works for SRC International.
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.
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