CAUGHT RED-HANDED – BANK NEGARA OFFICERS TELL COURT HUGE AMOUNTS IN THE MILLIONS FLOWED THROUGH NAJIB’S & SRC-LINKED AMBANK & AFFIN ACCOUNTS: YET IN BID TO DEFLECT ATTENTION, NAJIB DECRIES CHINA FIRM BEING INVOLVED IN MANAGING ECRL INSTEAD OF FOCUSING ON HIS TRIAL & IGNORING CRITICISM AGAINST HIMSELF FOR FATHERING THE ‘SELLING MALAYSIA TO CHINA’ PROJECT

There were at least 10 transactions ranging between RM5 million and RM40 million linked to the Ambank accounts of former premier Najib Abdul Razak, SRC International Sdn Bhd and its subsidiary Gandingan Mentari Sdn Bhd.

This for the period between Dec 24, 2014, and Feb 13, 2015.

The amounts were revealed by Bank Negara investigation officer Azizul Adzani Abdul Ghafar during cross-examination by Najib’s defence counsel Harvinderjit Singh on the third day of the Najib’s trial in relation to money-laundering and corruption linked to RM42 million of SRC International’s funds.

Azizul, 41, who is the prosecution’s second witness, testified that the transactions for deposits and withdrawals were reflected in bank documents seized from Ambank’s Jalan Raja Chulan branch in Kuala Lumpur on July 6, 2015.

Azizul said the bank documents detailing the transactions in question were given to him by the branch manager, R Uma Devi, without him asking for them.

Harvinderjit: Uma Devi, on her own volition, got you the additional bank documents of RM40 million, RM5 million, RM27 million, RM39.7 million and RM10 million (among others)?

Azizul: Correct.

Harvinderjit: This is unbelievable. After giving you the first batch of documents (in the morning of July 6, 2015), she came later (that same night) and gave you specific documents detailing the said transactions, and you never told her to get you these?

Azizul: Yes, I never asked her to.

Azizul said that, earlier in the morning of the raid at 11am, Uma Devi had handed him bank documents that listed, among others, the opening of bank accounts for Najib, SRC International and Gandingan Mentari. However, this batch of documents had not contained details of the transactions in question.

Uma Devi handed him another batch of bank documents at 9.15pm the same day, Azizul said.

The witness said he made a police report after he had completed the raid as it was standard procedure to do so after every raid.

Asked by Harvinderjit whether any other investigation paper was opened in relation to the raid, Azizul said he did not know.

During examination-in-chief by DPP Suhami Ibrahim later, Bank Negara Financial Intelligence Department’s Mohammad Nizam Yahya testified that he was given bank documents on Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd’s three current accounts at Affin Bank’s Jalan Raja Chulan branch in Kuala Lumpur, on July 6, 2015.

The third prosecution witness said he received the documents during a raid on the commercial bank conducted under Section 37 (1) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds from Unlawful Activities Act (Amlatfa) 2001.

The 39-year-old said he was handed account opening forms; specimen signature forms; a list of authorised signatories; customer due diligence forms for the three accounts and statements of account related to the opening of the said accounts.

He said he was handed the documents by Affin Bank’s chief legal officer and company secretary, Nimma Safira Khalid after he had served notice on the bank at 10am. He said he was accompanied by two other Bank Negara officers.

Cross-examination of Nizam by Najib’s defence team will take place when proceedings resume tomorrow morning at the Kuala Lumpur High Court before judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali.

The Wall Street Journal had previously published documents alleging that SRC International transferred RM40 million to its subsidiary Gandingan Mentari on Dec 24, 2014.

The funds were subsequently passed on to SRC International’s other subsidiary, Ihsan Perdana, on the same day.

A total of RM32 million from this amount allegedly found its way two days later into two Ambank accounts belonging to Najib in two tranches of RM27 million and RM5 million each,

Both transactions were backed by an AffinBank remittance application form.

According to the remittance application form, the transfer to one of the Ambank accounts was for “CSR (corporate social responsibility) programmes”.

The next round of transactions in 2015 took the same pattern with two tranches of RM5 million being allegedly transferred from SRC International on Feb 5 and Feb 6 respectively.

Both tranches of RM5 million were then purportedly transferred to Ihsan Perdana on the same day before being transferred in a single transaction of RM10 million to Najib’s account on Feb 10, 2015.

This was also backed by an Affin Bank remittance application form. The “details of payment” was similarly listed as “funds transfer for CSR programmes”.