Gaps in testimony lead to poser over Najib-KWAP meeting

NAJIB TRIAL | Former Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP) CEO Azian Mohd Nor took the stand again today in Najib Abdul Razak's corruption trial, but her testimony was peppered with gaps on what transpired after a 2011 meeting she had with the former premier.

Azian, the 38th witness in the trial, was today questioned extensively on KWAP’s approval of the initial RM2 billion loan requested by SRC International Sdn Bhd, a former subsidiary of 1MDB.

Earlier, she told the Kuala Lumpur High Court that she had gone with then-KWAP chairperson Wan Abdul Aziz Wan Abdullah to meet Najib at the Prime Minister's Office in June 2011.

The purpose of the meeting was to inform Najib of the KWAP investment panel's decision to only approve a loan of RM1 billion, instead of the RM3.95 billion SRC International sought.

The panel eventually approved a loan sum of RM2 billion after obtaining a government guarantee.

This prompted High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali to question Azian (photo) on the sequence of events which resulted in the additional RM1 billion being approved, as reflected in Paragraph 23 and 24 of her written witness statement.

Nazlan: Paragraph 23 says the witness, as the KWAP CEO, together with the KWAP chairperson, met with the prime minister to brief on the decision by the investment panel, which only approved RM1 billion. Is that right?

….in the next paragraph, it says that (former KWAP officer) Amirul Imran Ahmat prepared the papers (for the KWAP investment panel to consider approving RM2 billion loan to SRC International for the purpose of working capital and general investment).

It does not quite flow. The entirety of the rest of your witness statement was chronological, then suddenly there is a gap (with a) jump from RM1 billion to RM2 billion.

Azian: I believe I can’t remember the sequence of events, but I remember the subsequent meeting of (KWAP) investment panel, where the chairperson communicated to me to tell the panel members that the prime minister has communicated to him for KWAP to expedite the loan and that RM2 billion would suffice.

Only considering RM1b ‘at that stage’

In her witness statement, Azian also stated that she could not recall the date on which she and Wan Abdul Aziz met with Najib.

She also later told defence counsel Harvinderjit Singh (photo) that KWAP did not initially approve the RM1 billion loan, but that it was only "considering it" at that stage. 

The witness also pointed out that SRC International’s request for RM2 billion was "independent" of its first request for RM3.95 billion.

Harvinderjit: So SRC International initially made an application for RM3.95 billion, and later lowered to RM2 billion, correct?

Azian: As stated in the (investment) paper.

Harvinderjit: Whether this request was before or after the communication between Wan Abdul Aziz and Najib, you can’t remember?

Azian: I can’t remember.

Harvinderjit: You can’t tell because you were not there?

Azian: Yes.

On Monday, Azian told the court that she had met Najib's special officer Azlin Alias, now deceased, at a hotel in KL Sentral in June 2011. 

During the meeting, she said, Azlin handed her the SRC international loan application letter for an RM3.95 billion loan.

Azian testified that the letter, dated June 3, 2011, was signed by SRC International director Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil. It also contained a handwritten note from Najib (photo) that read "Bersetuju dengan cadangan ini (Agree with this proposal)."

She said she then handed the letter to Wan Abdul Aziz despite it not adhering to KWAP requirements – such as being addressed to Najib instead of the fund.

'Cannot recall’

When questioned about the letter by defence counsel Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden, Azian said she was unable to recall if there had been other letters on the application for the RM3.95 billion loan.

She only recalled that they were other documents to support the application.

Azian did, however, answer in the affirmative when asked if two investment papers were prepared after the July 2011 KWAP investment panel meeting – with the second pertaining to the approval of the RM2 billion loan. 

She added that this time, the application letter for the RM2 billion was addressed to KWAP, but that she could not recall if it came attached with any supporting documents.

Azian also declined to answer several of Yusof's questions on KWAP's procedures in approving loan applications from SRC International in 2011 and 2012, which amounted to a total of RM4 billion.

This includes a question on KWAP approving the loan applications based on a government guarantee, but before receiving the actual letter of guarantee.

Yusof: The government gave the guarantee. So, if there is a problem with the criteria before this, there were unable to give the early guarantee letter, would that be a big problem? This is as the company (SRC International) has government interest.

Azian: I cannot comment on that. It will only be my opinion…

Yusof: So you agree with me, for KWAP, there was nothing wrong with the application?

Azian: It would be... if we got the (guarantee) letter before we disbursed the loan… No, I will not answer hypothetical questions.

Yusof: That was something very bad, wasn't it. Such a thing had not happened before right (disbursing the loan before receiving the guarantee letter)?

Azian: No, I cannot comment on that. I cannot comment just because I haven't experienced that. - Mkini