The criminal trial of former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak involving the alleged misappropriation of funds from SRC International Sdn Bhd enters its 37th day today at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysiakini brings you live reports of the proceedings.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- Court cut short for Najib to attend Parliament
- Cross-examination meant to show Najib's bona fide intent - Shafee
- Ex-CEO says YR1M carried out 1,500 community projects in S'wak
- 'As CIMB senior manager, I wrote speeches for Nazir'
- Jho Low was principal at Wynton Group, confirms witness
- RM42m in Najib's accounts not from YR1M, says ex-CEO
- YR1M largely relied on Genting money for its programmes - witness
- 'YR1M trustees comprise Najib, his aides and 1MDB chairperson'
- Najib arrives in court
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11am - Thank you for following our live report today.
Court cut short for Najib to attend Parliament
10.57am - Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak's trial adjourns for the day for the Pekan MP to attend Parliament.
Yesterday, judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali allowed lead defence lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah's application for shorter proceedings.
Shafee also quips that now would be an appropriate time to adjourn, as his cross-examination is set to enter areas of "controversy."
Nazlan adjourns proceedings, which will resume tomorrow at 9am.
He also allows the defence until Monday next week. to obtain documents related to Najib's AmBank accounts.
Cross-examination meant to show Najib's bona fide intent - Shafee
10.42am - Lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah (photo) says his cross-examination of former Yayasan Rakyat 1Malaysia (YR1M) CEO Ung Su Ling is meant to show that his client Najib Abdul Razak had bona fide intent.
Shafee says this after his deputy public prosecutor V Sithambaram objects to his line of questioning, describing it as irrelevant.
"It is quite obvious I raised this as a basic element, as Najib is facing (charges) and needs to disprove all this... setting up that the funding (transfers of RM42 million to various entities) is all for bona fide reasons," he says.
Shafee had questioned Ung over the use of YR1M funds to help rural communities in Sarawak to set up basic water access and other amenities.
However, judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali tells the lawyer to keep his cross-examination brief, saying "some of the details we can do without."
Ex-CEO says YR1M carried out 1,500 community projects in S'wak
10.35am - Ung Su Ling (photo), the former CEO of Yayasan Rakyat 1Malaysia (YR1M), says that the foundation carried out some 1,500 programmes to help Malaysians between 2013 and 2018.
These projects were implemented under its three project pillars – helping the less fortunate, enhancing education in rural areas, and inculcating good values among youth through sports.
Ung tells the court that YR1M focused many of its projects in East malaysia, especially in the rural parts of Sarawak.
These include providing access to clean water, micro-hydroelectric systems, agricultural projects, and building of firefighting systems in longhouses.
YR1M also adopted over 1,100 schools in the state, with the foundation funding their libraries, among others.
"We find focus in Sarawak, the communities there are facing disadvantages in many ways.
"So that is where NGOs like ours have a better role to play to complement what the government is doing," she testifies under cross-examination by lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.
Ung says that YR1M also built seven free Tamil schools across the country.
'As CIMB senior manager, I wrote speeches for Nazir'
10.14am - Even as CIMB senior manager, Ung Su Ling wrote speeches for then-group CEO Mohamed Nazir Abdul Razak (photo).
Ung, the former CEO of Yayasan Rakyat 1Malaysia (YR1M), says this was what she did when she worked in Nazir's office between 2006 until 2009.
"Yes, I was in the group CEO office. I was a senior manager, but the personal assistant to group CEO at that time (Nazir).
"I wrote his speeches," she tells lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah during cross-examination.
Nazir is the brother of the accused, Najib Abdul Razak.
Jho Low was principal at Wynton Group, confirms witness
10.16am - Fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho (photo) was a principal at the Wynton Private Equity Group.
Former Yayasan Rakyat 1Malaysia (YR1M) CEO Ung Su Ling confirms this during cross-examination by lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.
Shafee: Wynton Group, is it not connected to Jho Low?
Ung: Yes, he was principal at Wynton.
Earlier, she said she had served at Wynton Group between 2004 and 2006.
RM42m in Najib's accounts not from YR1M, says ex-CEO
9.30am - The RM42 million banked into two of Najib Abdul Razak's AmBank accounts did not come from Yayasan Rakyat 1Malaysia (YR1M), testifies former CEO Ung Su Ling.
Ung says she was only told by Azlin Alias, Najib's chief private secretary at the time, to order 1MDB's CSR partner Ihsan Perdana to transfer the funds to said AmBank accounts.
This was done on two occasions, in December 2014 and February 2015.
Ung says she was contacted by Azlin on Dec 24, 2014, and told to instruct the then-Ihsan Perdana CEO Shamsul Anwar Sulaiman to transfer sums of RM27 million and RM5 million to the AmBank accounts ending in 880 and 906.
In February the next year, Azlin instructed her to order Shamsul to transfer another RM10 million to the 880 account.
Ung says that at the time, she did not know that the accounts belonged to Najib.
YR1M largely relied on Genting money for its programmes - witness
9.20am - Former CEO Ung Su Ling testifies that Yayasan Rakyat 1Malaysia (YR1M) largely relied on funds from Genting Group for its community programmes between 2013 and 2015.
Ung adds that YR1M had three AmBank accounts, one of which was used as the main account for project funding.
"The main account was for (YR1M) programmes. The main source of funding came from gambling proceeds from the Genting Group.
"The second account was for YR1M operations, while the third was for funding of projects that were based on other funding sources," she says.
Between 2013 and 2015, Ung tells the court, YR1M received a total of RM210 million in funds from 1MDB.
'YR1M trustees comprise Najib, his aides and 1MDB chairperson'
9.10am - Ung Su Ling is called to the stand, and testifies that she was appointed as the CEO of Yayasan Rakyat 1Malaysia (YR1M) in January 2013. She held the post until last May.
She tells the court that YR1M was the brainchild of then-premier Najib Abdul Razak, and that it was headed by a board of trustees that comprised four members.
"YR1M was mooted by the prime minister then, which is Najib, who wanted to see more community activities being conducted based on 1Malaysia principles.
"There were four trustees, led by the prime minister and three others. They are (former 1MDB chairperson) Lodin Wok Kamaruddin, Wan Shihab Wan Ismail, who was then a special officer at the Prime Minister's Office, and Azlin Alias, who was then the chief private secretary to the prime minister.
"(However), after Azlin's death, there were only three trustees," she says, reading from her witness statement.
Ung tells the court that the trustees' main task was to plan YR1M's direction, besides approving community programmes and budget allocations.
All programmes, she added, were approved through director's circular resolutions, which she would prepare before taking it to Azlin, who would then obtain Shihab and Najib's signatures.
The resolutions would then be returned to her, before she obtained Lodin's (photo) signature.
Najib arrives in court
9.07am - Najib enters the dock as proceedings begin.
9am - The accused, Najib Abdul Razak, takes a seat in the public gallery.
Also awaiting proceedings are Attorney-General Tommy Thomas and his team of deputy public prosecutors, as well as members of Najib's defence.
The 38th day of former premier Najib Abdul Razak's RM42 million SRC International trial today will be the briefest yet – just two hours, from 9am to 11am.
Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali allowed the special dispensation yesterday so that Najib can discharge his duty as Pekan MP and attend Dewan Rakyat proceedings.
Lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah had applied for today's briefer proceedings to allow his client to participate in the parliamentary debate on the Undi 18 bill, which seeks to lower the voting age from 21 to 18.
This is in contrast to what transpired on July 1, when the judge threw out the application for Najib to skip proceedings to attend a Dewan Rakyat sitting.
On that day, Shafee told the court that Najib needed to participate in a parliamentary debate on a bill to compel MPs to declare their assets.
Among the possible witnesses that may be called by the prosecution during today's brief proceedings is former Yayasan Rakyat 1Malaysia (YR1M) CEO Ung Su Ling.
At one point, Najib was also the chairperson of YR1M, which the court previously heard was one of the funders of Ihsan Perdana, a CSR partner of 1MDB.
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