NAJIB STARES AT DEFEAT AS SRC TRIAL WRAPS UP: ALL EYES NOW ON HOW MANY YEARS JAIL DISGRACED EX-PM WILL GET FOR MAKING SRC HIS PERSONAL ‘PIGGY BANK’ – EVEN AS MOTHER OF ALL TRIALS 1MDB POISED TO BEGIN NEXT WEEK

Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) revealed on Thursday (August 22) that only former Prime Minister Najib Razak had an interest in the misappropriation SRC International Sdn Bhd’s funds. His partner-in-crime Jho Low (full name: Low Taek Jho), meanwhile, has no interest at all. However, defence lawyer Harvinderjit Singh was not happy with the MACC’s testimony.

Staring at a defeat, Najib’s lawyer can do very little but disgracefully put words in the mouth of the anti-corruption agency, arguing – unconvincingly – that the misappropriation of SRC funds was done by Jho Low and his allies. Mr. Najib is facing 7 charges, of which 3 are for criminal breach of trust, one for abuse of power and 3 for money laundering involving SRC International funds totalling RM42 million.

The defence attorney had argued that Najib was not involved in any withdrawals of funds from SRC, based on the transcript of the BlackBerry Message (BBM). He must have thought the High Court Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali was as dumb as a rock. Even a Bangladeshi who didn’t go to school can see the stupidity of the lawyer’s argument.

Just because Jho Low had deliberately kept Najib Razak, his boss whom he referred to as “Optimus Prime”, in the dark about the operations of his bank accounts with Ambank does not mean the former premier was innocent. To keep Najib out of the loop was actually to protect the former Malaysian leader – by providing him with “plausible deniability”.

It’s the ability of the (former) prime minister to deny knowledge of or responsibility for any damnable actions committed by others in an organizational hierarchy, even if Najib Razak was personally involved in or at least wilfully ignorant of the actions. Can you imagine monthly banking statementsaddressed to Najib got lost and ended up with the oppositions?

The defence team’s argument makes perfect sense only if their client had not spent any of the money in the SRC funds, or had lodged at least a single complaint to Ambank about dubious transactions, or made a police report upon learning that RM42 million was deposited into his personal bank accounts, or didn’t use the money to pay his credit cards and the list goes on.

But the Liar-in-Chief had done not a single thing that could convince the High Court, let alone the public, that Jho Low was the ultimate mastermind who had scammed Najib Razak. After 56 days of Najib’s SRC trial involving 57 witnesses, the defence still could not establish that fugitive Low Taek Jho was solely responsible for the embezzlement activities in SRC International.

First of all, it has been established in the court the money trail from SRC International to subsidiary companies Gandingan Mentari Sdn Bhd and Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd. Subsequently, a total of RM42 million from Ihsan Perdana made its way into two personal accounts of Najib between December 2014 and February 2015 – in three tranches of RM27 million, RM5 million, and RM10 million.

It has also been established that SRC was funded from RM4 billion loans from retirement fund KWAP. Afidah Azwa Abdul Aziz (Finance Ministry’s Strategic Investment Division deputy secretary) has told the court that she had to rush the preparation of Cabinet documents to guarantee the loan because it was “orders from above” and “SRC is the PM’s company.”

Secondly, it was exposed how Najib, who happened to be the Finance Minister as well, had modified the constitution of SRC International Sdn. Bhd. at an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to make him the “adviser emeritus” of the company – indirectly gave Mr. Najib control of the company, which was a wholly-owned subsidiary of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

Thirdly, Uma Devi, AmBank Jalan Raja Chulan branch manager, had testified that Mr. Najib took no action and made no complaint from 2011 to 2015 despite irregularities in the signatures of signatories he appointed via authorisation letters to the bank. Ms Uma also confirmed that all cheques in Najib’s accounts can only be signed by him, not even SRC CEO Nik Faisal.

Fourthly, Dr Shamsul Anwar Sulaiman, managing director of shelf company Ihsan Perdana revealed that Najib Razak was “shocked and upset” when he told the then-prime minister in July 2015 that millions had been banked into his personal bank accounts. Yet, the so-called shocked and upset Najib did not instruct him to lodge a report either with the police or the MACC.

Fifthly, Najib mysteriously sacked (former) Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail on July 27, 2015, the same month that the former premier dropped his jaw in shock when told someone had banked in RM42 million to his bank accounts. After the sacking of A.G. Gani Patail, retired judge Mohamed Apandi Ali was appointed and would proceed to declare Najib’s innocence.

Not only did the despicable A.G. Apandi Ali disbanded the special task force set up to investigate the US$681 million (RM2.6 billion) found in Najib’s personal bank accounts and state-owned SRC International, the then-premier had also fired Deputy PM Muhyiddin Yassin and UMNO vice president Shafie Apdal, not to mention replacing Special Branch Chief Akhil Bulat.

Sixthly, a chat message using BlackBerry from Najib to Jho Low proves that the former PM knew and was in absolute control of his bank accounts. The message reads – “My platinum cards are not going through Jho. Can you call AmBank Visa and Mastercard right away? Thanks.” The message was forwarded immediately to Joanna Yu Ging Ping, Najib’s relationship liaison manager at Ambank, for her prompt action.

Exactly how could Najib claim innocence when he personally instructed Jho Low to fix his credit card problems, which were declined in a Chanel store in Hawaii, as he attempted to swipe his credit card for a US$100,000 purchase in the store on Dec 23, 2014 (it was the same time Najib jetted to Honolulu to play golf with U.S. President Barack Obama)?

Seventhly, Najib had written dozens of cheques from his bank accounts, despite his lawyer claiming he was not responsible for the misappropriation of money from SRC International. One has to remember that SRC CEO Nik Faisal cannot take money out of Najib’s account because the former prime minister is the sole signatory to issue cheques from his own current accounts.

As revealed by Ambank relationship manager Joanna Yu, a total of RM12.3 million cash was deposited over the counter between June 2014 and March 2015 to ensure that cheques issued by then-PM Najib Razak did not bounce. Since when do you see a scammer (Jho Low) would actively ensure the victim’s bank accounts have enough cash to prevent cheques from being dishonoured?

Amongst others, witness Zulkarnain Mohamad testified that his company ABS Trend Master Sdn Bhd had received a RM100,000 cheque for renovation works carried out in Najib’s private residence at Jalan Langgak Duta – including the building of a dry kitchen, clothes cabinet, a 12,000 litre water tank and pantry. Heck, even his son – Norashman Najib – was gifted with US$70,000 cash from the ill-gotten RM42 million.

Eighthly, the SRC trial also unveiled that Najib’s Platinum Mastercard and Platinum Visa issued by AmBank had been overdrawn thanks to a RM3,320,670.65 purchase of jewellery in September 2014. Coincidentally and conveniently, all those credit card expenses were paid with the RM42 million transferred from Ihsan Perdana into Najib’s personal bank account.

Ninethly, hotshot lawyer Shafee could not explain why his client, Najib Razak, closed three bank accounts about a month after he transferred millions of Ringgit to other beneficiaries. That was on 9 March, 2015 – more than 3 years before he lost power in the May 2018 general election. Are we supposed to believe that Najib did not check his account balances before closing them?

Last but not least, witnesses have testified that Najib Razak’s three personal AmBank accounts received a total of RM606.51 million over 19 months – between July 31, 2013, and March 9, 2015. And it was Najib alone who had spent all the money, averaging RM31.92 million per month or RM1.035 million a day. How could he claim ignorance after writing cheques and swiping credit cards?

Yes, the SRC International was set up – even designed – as Najib Razak’s personal ATM machine. Only the disgraced former premier had an interest in misappropriation of SRC funds. As for Jho Low, his piggy bank is Good Star, a company registered in the Seychelles, which had received US$700 million funds which were diverted from a joint venture between 1MDB and Petrosaudi International.

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