‘RM64mil went into Najib’s account’

KUALA LUMPUR: The eighth day of Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s corruption trial heard that a total of RM64mil went into an AmBank account belonging to the former prime minister in 2014 and 2015.

A witness from AmBank shared in the High Court how numerous amounts were banked into the account during that period.

AmBank branch manager R. Uma Devi, who read her witness statement from the stand, said RM37mil out of the RM64mil was credited into Najib’s account from the bank account of Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd.

Ihsan Perdana is the corporate social responsibility unit of SRC International Sdn Bhd.

Uma Devi, who is attached to the bank branch in Jalan Raja Chulan here, said that based on the transaction records for the AmPrivate account bearing the number 2112022011880, RM27mil was credited into Najib’s account on July 8, 2014.

It was not mentioned in court where the RM27mil came from.

The witness said another RM27mil was credited into the same account on Dec 26, 2014, which also came from Ihsan Perdana.

She said Ihsan Perdana also credited RM10mil into Najib’s account on Feb 10, 2015.

The transactions also showed that RM20mil was transferred out from 2112022011880 and RM10mil was credited into Najib’s AmPrivate current account bearing the number 2112022011906 on July 8, 2014.

The witness explained that RM3mil was transferred out of the account with RM1mil credited into Najib’s current account bearing the number 2112022011898 and RM2mil into the account bearing the number 2112022011906.

“Through a letter from former SRC International CEO Nik Faizal Ariff Kamil, the instruction was to transfer out RM449,586.95 from the RM3.3mil in Najib’s AmBank account and the amount to be credited to a Visa Platinum credit card.

“The rest RM2,833,147.21 was credited to a Mastercard Platinum credit card,” she said.

Uma Devi said Nik Faisal was appointed as an authorised personnel for Najib’s accounts.

“This allows him to manage Najib’s account at AmBank without referring to any accounts in specific, take cheque books and account statements,” she said.

The witness spent hours since morning reading from a statement.

At one point in the afternoon, Najib’s lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah asked for a break, saying: “I don’t know about the witness, but I’m really tired and bored.”

Uma Devi earlier testified that RM85mil was transferred out of SRC International between July 2014 and February 2015.

She said the transfers were made after the bank received letters from the company, signed by Nik Faisal and director Datuk Suboh Md Yassin.

Uma Devi said RM35mil was transferred out on July 8, 2014; RM40mil on Dec 24, 2014; RM5mil on Feb 2, 2015; and RM5mil on Feb 6, 2015 from SRC’s current account bearing the number 2112022010650.

Uma Devi also testified that RM4bil was credited into SRC’s current account 2112022009736 between August 2011 and March 2012.

RM2bil was credited into the account on Aug 29, 2011 in four tranches of RM500mil each while another RM2bil was credited on March 28, 2012.

The proceeding adjourned for the day at 5.30pm and the witness smiled when DPP Datuk Suhaimi Ibrahim commented that she must have been tired reading the whole day.

Earlier in the morning, witness Rosaiah Mohamed Rosli of Affin Bank told the court that RM50mil was credited into the bank account of Ihsan Perdana.

The bank processing officer testified that Affin Bank received data through single credit confirmation advice on Dec 24, 2015, to credit the account of its client, Ihsan Perdana, with RM40mil from the AmIslamic Bank account belonging to Gandingan Mentari Sdn Bhd.

Gandingan Mentari is a subsidiary of SRC International.

“The amount was credited on the same day,” she said.

She also confirmed that the bank received similar data on Feb 5 and 6 in 2015 to credit Ihsan Perdana’s account with RM5mil each day from Gandingan Mentari’s AmIslamic Bank account.

Among other witnesses called to the stand yesterday was lawyer Ashraf Abdul Razak who used to work for law firm Zulqarnain & Co.

He received a cheque for RM2.5mil on Feb 2, 2015, from corporate figure Habibul Rahman Kadir Shah, which the latter said was for a defence contract.

Najib is facing seven charges involving RM42mil belonging to SRC International.

The trial continues before Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali today.- Star