PMO officers dared not question Najib on funds, says witness

NAJIB TRIAL | No one in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) dared to ask Najib Abdul Razak on the source of funds received by him when he was prime minister, a witness testified in court today.

Amhari Effendi Nazaruddin, a former special officer to Najib, said this was because the PMO officers feared being seen as questioning the premier's credibility.

"Generally, I believe that the PMO officers had never and could not even ask Najib from where he received his funds, because this would be seen as having no confidence in his (Najib's) credibility," Amhari told the High Court in Kuala Lumpur this morning.

Amhari, who used to work for Najib from 2008 until last year, was testifying as the prosecution's eighth witness on the fourth day of the 1MDB trial against Najib.

According to Amhari (below), he believed Najib had received some of his funds from 1MDB-linked businessperson Low Taek Jho, who is better known as Jho Low.

This, he added, was because Jho Low had promised to provide funds to be used for the 13th general election.

"I believe that there were funds that came from Jho Low because before the GE13," he had told me and Azlin Alias on funds for the purpose of winning votes in Penang for the election.

"However, Jho Low had never explained how he got the funds.

"Until today, I do not know the status of the monies in the account as it is still under the control of Jho Low," Amhari added.

He was referring to the bank accounts that he had opened in Switzerland and Bangkok.

In his earlier testimony, Amhari said that he opened the accounts under Jho Low's order and that they were controlled by the latter. - Mkini