KUALA LUMPUR: A former SRC International Sdn Bhd director told the court in Najib Razak’s corruption and abuse of power trial today that the inclusion of a clause in the company’s constitution drastically changed its character.
Suboh Md Yassin said once Clause 117 was added to its Memorandum and Articles of Association, SRC International was no longer an ordinary company governed by the Companies Act.
“In order to operate, we had to receive instructions from the prime minister, who was also the adviser emeritus,” he said when re-examined by ad hoc prosecutor V Sithambaram.
When asked by Sithambaram who the prime minister was at the time, Suboh said, “Najib.”
The policy and direction of a company is usually determined by its board of directors.
Former SRC International chairman Ismee Ismail earlier told the court that Najib had added the clause at an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to make him adviser emeritus of the company.
He said the amendment on April 23, 2012, also indirectly allowed Najib, who was finance minister as well, to control the company which came under the Finance Ministry Incorporated.
Najib faces six charges of money laundering and criminal breach of trust in the transfer of RM42 million to his account from SRC International, a former unit of 1MDB.
He is also accused of abusing his power as prime minister by giving government guarantees on SRC International’s RM4 billion loan from Retirement Fund Inc.
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.
The prosecution also demonstrated today that the signatures of SRC International CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil as well as Suboh could have been forged in a cut-and-paste job.
It showed that 14 of the 17 signatures of Suboh and Nik Faisal in real-time electronic transfer of funds and securities (Rentas) instructions and bank instructions to AmBank, Affin Bank and Maybank were identical.
Last week, the defence suggested that Nik Faisal could have photoshopped Suboh’s signature on the scanned copies before sending them to the banks to carry out the instruction to transfer funds.
Lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah also suggested that Nik Faisal had forged and abused Suboh’s signature on the hard copies.
When further questioned by Sithambaram, Suboh said he was unaware of any funds from SRC International and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Gandingan Mentari Sdn Bhd, going into his or Nik Faisal’s personal accounts.
Both Suboh and Nik Faisal are signatories of cheques for SRC International and Gandingan Mentari.
Suboh also said he was not aware that SRC International had taken legal action over the wrongful transfer of funds.
The prosecution is contending that from the RM4 billion in SRC International’s account, RM50 million was sent to Gandingan Mentari which later transferred the same amount to Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd.
Ihsan Perdana, which was selected to conduct corporate social responsibility programmes for SRC International, transferred RM42 million into three of Najib’s accounts.
The hearing continues before trial judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali. - FMT
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