Najib admitted in civil suit that RM42 mil from SRC entered his accounts, says lawyer

© Provided by FMT MEDIA SDN BHD Lawyer Ranjit Singh at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur today.

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court in Najib Razak’s corruption and criminal breach of trust trial heard today that the former prime minister had admitted in a defamation suit that RM42 million from SRC International Sdn Bhd went into his personal bank accounts.

Lawyer Ranjit Singh, who represented former transport minister Dr Ling Liong Sik in that suit, said Najib made the admission in an affidavit in response to the defence advanced by his client.

“He admitted in a sworn affidavit that the RM42 million was from SRC,” he said when examined by ad hoc prosecutor V Sithambaram.

Ranjit, the 55th prosecution witness, said Najib, in his affidavit, had said that between Dec 24, 2014 and Feb 6, 2014, a total of RM42 million was transferred into his AmBank accounts through two intermediaries.

However, Najib also said he had no personal knowledge that the money was deposited into his accounts through Gandingan Mentari Sdn Bhd and Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd.

Najib, 66, is facing three counts of criminal breach of trust, one charge of abusing his position and three counts of money laundering over SRC International funds amounting to RM42 million.

The Pekan MP was charged with committing the offences at AmIslamic Bank Bhd in Jalan Raja Chulan and the Prime Minister’s Office in Putrajaya between Aug 17, 2011, and Feb 10, 2015.

On May 22 last year, Najib withdrew his suit against Ling over claims that the former prime minister had “taken the people’s money” in the RM2.6 billion donation issue.

Najib’s lawyer Hafarizam Harun said they were withdrawing the defamation suit as Najib needed to focus on “other pressing matters”.

The High Court also ordered Najib to pay Ling RM25,000 in costs for the withdrawal.

Ling, who is a former MCA president, also withdrew his counter-claim against Najib.

Najib filed the suit in October 2015 after Ling said the then-prime minister was unfit to lead Malaysia after receiving some RM2.6 billion, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Ling also said there was no reason for money from SRC International, a government-linked company, to enter Najib’s accounts. He said this had created the perception that the ex-prime minister was dishonest.

In his defence, Ling said the Umno president had failed to disclose the identity of the donor, the source of the funds and how they were utilised.

He said since Najib had admitted that RM2.6 billion was indeed transferred into his personal bank accounts, he was relying on the defence of fair comment and qualified privilege for his remarks.