NAJIB TRIAL - Day 29: Bangkok to Abu Dhabi - SRC key witness on all-paid getaway trip

The criminal trial of former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak involving the alleged misappropriation of funds from SRC International Sdn Bhd enters its 29th day today at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysiakini brings you live reports of the proceedings.

---

Summary of Najib’s SRC RM42 million case

Najib is facing 7 charges relating to RM42m involving SRC International, a former 1MDB subsidiary.

• 1 abuse of power charge
• 3 criminal breach of trust (CBT) charges
• 3 money laundering charges
• Click to view infomation on judge, prosecution and defence team

---

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

• Key witness to continue testimony when trial resumes on July 1
• Bangkok to Abu Dhabi - SRC key witness on all-paid getaway trip
• 'I was told to leave M'sia and not assist MACC probe in 2015' 
• 'Najib didn't walk out when cabinet discussed SRC International'
• SRC was 'the PM's company' - witness says a superior told her 
• I was under duress to speed up SRC's RM2b loan process - witness
• 'We only answer to the prime minister'

---

Thank you for following Malaysiakini's live report

5.15pm - Thank you for following our live report today.

---

Key witness to continue testimony when trial resumes on July 1

5.08pm - The whole court is thrown into a nervous and humorous moment when Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali suggests that proceedings continue until 9pm today.

This after DPP Ishak Mohd Yusoff asks whether proceedings can be adjourned for the day and further trial date be fixed.

Earlier today, Najib Abdul Razak's lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah had asked whether tomorrow's scheduled proceedings could be vacated.

This is because Shafee has a Court of Appeal matter regarding his appeal to temporarily get back his passport in his RM9.5 million money laundering case.

Ishak: If possible, can we set another date (to continue examination-in-chief of former SRC International director Suboh Md Yassin) as I still have a lot of questions.

Nazlan: Can continue until 9(pm)?

Ishak: Meaning tonight? (taken aback as small chuckles can be heard in the court)

When Ishak asks Najib's lawyer Harvinderjit Singh if the defence is okay with this, he says they have no issues with it.

Ishak then informs Nazlan that they are also concerned over whether Suboh can continue to give oral evidence until 9pm tonight.

Over the course of proceedings, Suboh (above) can be seen breathing a bit heavily at times while in the witness stand.

Nazlan then allows for proceedings to adjourn for the day and for the trial to resume on July 1.

---

Bangkok to Abu Dhabi - SRC key witness on all-paid getaway trip

3.35pm - The High Court hears from Suboh Md Yassin that after he and his wife ran away to Bangkok for about a month in 2015, they received flight tickets to Abu Dhabi from a Thai national and flew to the UAE capital.

There, they met an Arab who took them to Rosewood Hotel where they stayed for about a week.

According to the former director of SRC International, all their expenses including hotel fees and the flight tickets were paid for.

"However, I do not know who had bear the costs," he testifies.

The key witness tells the court that he and his wife later returned to Malaysia via Bangkok.

However, it was not stated when this took place.

Suboh says, sometime after the election, he received another call from Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil (photo), who told him again to leave Malaysia and not to assist authorities in their investigations. 

(He did not state which election or whether it was a general election or by-election)

"I made the decision not to run away again and stayed to help authorities," Suboh says.

---

'I was told to leave M'sia and not assist MACC probe in 2015' 

3.30pm - Key witness in SRC International trial, Suboh Md Yassin, spills the beans on his disappearance in 2015.

Testifying under examination-in-chief by DPP Ishak Mohd Yusoff, the former non-executive director of SRC International tells the High Court that he contacted MACC in 2015 to assist its probe after a matter regarding the company broke out and became a hot issue then.

However, says Suboh, he received a call from a man telling him to leave Malaysia before he managed to go to the MACC office to meet with investigators.

"In 2015, I contacted MACC to set an appointment to explain about SRC International, which was under MACC investigation. (However), before I went to MACC office, I received a call from an unidentified man, who claimed he was from MACC, who told me not to go to MACC office as promised.

"He also ordered me to leave Malaysia," Suboh testifies.

DPP Ishak then asks Suboh what was he going to tell MACC when he contacted the agency then.

According to the witness, he took the initiative to explain what he knew about the company, as SRC International had become a hot issue.

Ishak: Do you know who was the caller?

Suboh: I did not recognise the voice.

Ishak: Did he identify himself?

Suboh: He only said that he was from MACC.

Ishak: Do you know what his race (might be)?

Suboh: He spoke in Malay.

Suboh tells the court he was scared about what had happened, as well as the fact that Najib Abdul Razak was still the prime minister then.

Thus, Suboh adds, he made a decision to run away to Bangkok with his wife, where they stayed for about a month.

He says they paid their own expenses for the trip.

When the DPP asks Suboh what made him scared of Najib, the witness recalls that he had also received a call from then CEO and managing director of SRC International, Nik Faisal Arif Kamil, who told him to go away.

---

2.38pm - Proceedings resume with the further examination-in-chief of 42nd witness and former SRC International director Suboh Md Yassin.

---

1pm - Proceedings break for lunch and will resume at 2.30pm.

---

'Najib didn't walk out when cabinet discussed SRC International'

12.10pm - Retired cabinet deputy secretary-general Mazidah Abdul Majid (below) testifies that then premier and finance minister Najib Abdul Razak never walked out of cabinet meetings in 2011 and 2012 which discussed the proposal for the federal government to give a government guarantee to SRC International for the over RM4 billion in loans it received from the Retirement Fund Incorporated (KWAP).

She confirms this during cross-examination by Najib's lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.

Shafee: Referring to SRC (discussion by the cabinet over granting a government guarantee for the total RM4 billion in loans), you mentioned (in previous oral evidence) that nobody (Najib or other cabinet ministers) walked out (due to conflicts of interest)?

Mazidah: I said nobody walked out.

Shafee: You did not say whether he (Najib) should have walked out?

Mazidah: I am not stating my opinion.

She agrees with Shafee's contention that if there had been any issue with Najib being in a conflict of interest over cabinet discussions on SRC International, then the ministers present would have raised the matter.

Shafee: Every cabinet member, if they had knowledge (over any conflict of interest involving Najib and SRC International), they would have alerted (Najib in the cabinet meetings). There were four or five lawyers (ministers with legal training), they would have alerted but your memory says there was not much debate about it, it went smoothly.

Mazidah: Yes.

---

SRC was 'the PM's company' - witness says a superior told her 

10.45am - The High Court hears from a Finance Ministry official that she was told by her superior to speed up the processing of SRC International's application for a government guarantee because it was "the prime minister's company".

Afidah Azwa Abdul Aziz (above) testifies under re-examination by DPP Suhaimi Ibrahim that this was told to her in 2011 by her then superior in the Finance Ministry's Management, Loan, Financial Market and Actuary Department, Maliami Ahmad.

The head assistant secretary at the department then, Afidah was tasked with processing SRC International's application to obtain a government guarantee for it to secure an RM2 billion loan, which the company later obtained from the Retirement Fund Incorporated (KWAP) in the same year.

She had earlier testified during cross-examination by the defence that she was under pressure to expedite SRC International's application.

Suhaimi: You said that you were under duress (when processing the application). And you complained to Maliami, who was the head of the department.

Afidah: Yes I did.

Suhaimi: And he said he received the order (to expedite the processing). Did you ask him further who had given the order?

Afidah: As far as I remember, I did ask him.

Suhaimi: What did Maliami say then?

Afidah: He said this was an order by his superior.

Suhaimi: Did you ask him any further?

Afidah: I did ask him why this needed to be hurried, and Maliami answered, "This is the prime minister's company".

Afidah's answer, however, receives an objection from defence counsel Yusof Zainal Abiden, who says that Afidah earlier testified that Maliami only told her it was an order.

He says that Afidah told the court when being questioned by Shafee that she had accepted Maliami's answer.

The objection prompts DPP V Sithambaram to interject, saying that it is a follow-up question to what had transpired during cross-examination by Shafee earlier.

The lawyers then lock horns over whether this testimony by Afidah can be accepted, with the defence saying it is hearsay evidence.

The prosecution, however, defends Afidah's testimony, saying that she was testifying on what she was told by her superior. Sithambaram also says that it could not be hearsay as they will also be calling Maliami to testify, where the court can ask him about this.

After about 10 minutes of submissions by the lawyers, Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali rules that he will allow the answer, citing that the testimony arose by the answer that Afidah gave during cross-examination earlier.

---

I was under duress to speed up SRC's RM2b loan process - witness 

9.55am - Finance Ministry Strategic Investment Division deputy secretary Afidah Azwa Abdul Aziz testifies that she was put under duress by her superior in 2011 in order to speed up the processing of SRC International's application for government guarantee in the RM2 billion loan from Retirement Fund Incorporated (KWAP) to the company in 2011.

The 41st witness says this during cross-examination by lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.

She is explaining to Shafee (below) what she meant by "digesa" by her then superior Maliami Ahmad to speed up the application.

Shafee: I suggest that this process by Maliami of hurrying up, is not an issue of "digesa-gesa", only merely to speed up the process (percepat proses). You were not "digesa".

Afidah: I was digesa, I was under duress.

Shafee: It was Maliami who put you under duress?

Afidah: Yes.

Shafee: Is he still your superior?

Afidah: Not anymore.

Shafee: Thus, now it is easier for you to explain.

She also says that she did not record any complaint she had made over the issue.

---

'We only answer to the prime minister'

9.45am - "We only answer to the prime minister".

Finance Ministry Strategic Investment deputy secretary Afidah Azwa Abdul Aziz testifies that she was told this in Aug 2011 by Zahid Taib, a representative from SRC International.

She is explaining what transpired during a meeting between her and Zahid as well as the company's then CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, over the company's bid for a government guarantee for the RM2 billion loan from the Retirement Fund Incorporated (KWAP) in late 2011.

During cross-examination by lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, she says this was the answer given to her by Zahid when she sought additional information from him on the company's application.

Afidah: When we tried to get information from SRC International, the answer given was "We only answer to the prime minister".

Shafee: Who told you this?

Afidah: Zahid said he is responsible to the PM (then prime minister Najib)

Shafee: But you did not complain to anybody else?

Afidah: I reported to my division head Maliami (Ahmad).

Shafee: He did not do anything and you just accepted it in the end?

Afidah: Yes.

---

9.27am: Buzzer in the courtroom rings. Najib Abdul Razak enters the dock as proceedings begin.

9.24am: Najib Abdul Razak's lead counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah enters courtroom and joins the rest of the defence team.

9am: Accused Najib Abdul Razak enters the courtroom and takes a seat at the front row of the public gallery to await the proceedings.

Also in court are DPP V Sithambaram and other members of the prosecution team as well as Najib's defence team as they wait for trial to start.

8.52am: The 29th day of Najib Abdul Razak's RM42 million SRC International trial may see two witnesses take the stand – Finance Ministry Strategic Investment Division deputy secretary Afidah Azwa Abdul Aziz, and former cabinet deputy secretary-general Mazidah Abdul Majid.

When proceedings resume before Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali today, the former premier's defence team may continue its cross-examination of 41st witness Afidah, who delivered two bombshells over SRC International's debt status yesterday.

Firstly, she told the court that SRC International, which was fully-owned by the Minister of Finance Inc, not only failed to service its RM4 billion in loans from Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP) but also could not meet the interest payments.

This flew in the face of previous media reports quoting KWAP reiterating that SRC International had been servicing its debts since 2016.

Secondly, Afidah revealed that the federal government had loaned RM642 million to SRC International between 2015 and 2017 for the company to service said interest payments and thus avoid defaulting.

This would have further burdened the government as it was the guarantor for the RM4 billion loan sum.

The defence may also resume its cross-examination of 40th witness Mazidah. Her cross-examination was cut short yesterday, as she had yet to produce a few documents related to cabinet meetings chaired by Najib.

Two days ago, Mazidah testified that cabinet meetings in August 2011 and February 2012 passed a resolution for the government to guarantee the two loans from KWAP to SRC International.

-Mkini