Najib takes aim at testimonies of Husni, Suboh

SRC TRIAL | Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak today accused former second finance minister Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah of using the Kuala Lumpur High Court as a stage to get back at him for transferring the latter out of the Finance Ministry back in 2016.

Testifying in his defence at the SRC International criminal, Najib said he believed that Husni's testimony as a prosecution witness was made out of frustration.

"I believe that Husni had kept his dissatisfaction against me over my decision to transfer him from the Finance Ministry to the Economic Planning Unit (of the Prime Minister's Department), as he had immediately resigned after that in 2016.

"And he has used the witness box as a stage to air his grouses openly," Najib said, reading out from a prepared witness statement.

He was referring to Husni's testimony as 56th prosecution witness during the earlier part of the trial, where the latter said Najib was the one who stopped him from going to Switzerland to recover some RM3 billion of SRC International funds which had been frozen by the Swiss government over suspicion of money laundering.

According to Najib, the matter about going to Switzerland raised by Husni (drawing) in court had also allegedly been taken out of context.

"I believe this matter had been taken out of context. Husni did ask me informally whether he should go to Switzerland to try to solve the issue. This was not an official nor a formal request.

"He actually said that he could try and settle this matter as he knew several individuals in Switzerland who could help. I told him that there was no need for him to go there as, from my understanding, there were already efforts by SRC to address the problem," Najib testifies.

The chairperson of the BN advisory board also denied that he had ever ordered Husni from being involved in matters related to 1MDB.

Husni's claim that he was treated like an "office boy", too, was contradictory with his intention to stay in MOF instead of being transferred to EPU, Najib added.

"If Husni truly felt that he was being treated as an office boy, it is surely very odd that he wanted to continue in MOF. This shows a contradiction between what he said in the witness box and what was his real experience."

No knowledge of SRC International allocating RM250m to Ihsan Perdana

Besides Husni, earlier testimony by former SRC International director Suboh Md Yassin also became a subject in Najib's statement to the court.

Speaking from the witness box under examination-in-chief by defence lawyer Wan Aizuddin Wan Mohamed, the politician denied that he had a hand in the decision to appoint Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd (IPSB) as a corporate social responsibility partner to SRC International.

He also claimed no knowledge of a RM250 million allocation channelled to IPSB by SRC.

Suboh (photo), who testified as 42nd prosecution witness, claimed that CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil had told him the decision to appoint IPSB was made by Najib albeit without approval from the SRC board of directors.

"This is something that is really hard to be believed. Suboh was one of SRC directors who surely knows about its corporate governance procedures," said Najib.

"How could he just ignore these based only on what was represented by Nik Faisal? I had never been informed about IPSB appointment or the allocation of RM250 million (to IPSB)," he said.

Najib added that he also could not understand how two SRC directors (Suboh and Nik Faisal) could sign the RM250 million allocation grant without approval from the board of directors.

The accused said Nik Faisal was also no longer the CEO of SRC when the document was signed in Sept 2014.

Nik Faisal played both sides

Answering prepared questions from his lawyer, Najib said he believed that Nik Faisal had played both sides in managing SRC International.

He refuted claims by Suboh and another witness Ismee Ismail that Nik Faisal played the role of being the link between Najib and SRC.

Ismee (photo) is a former chairperson of the company's board of directors and testified against Najib as 39th prosecution witness.

"This is entirely not true. This is not how MOF Inc (Minister of Finance Incorporated) companies are managed. SRC included.

"In the limited meeting between me and Nik Faisal, he informed me that the board of directors had decided on investments after thorough discussions and due diligence were carried out with external consultants and advisers.

"I surely had never directed the board in any way over these matters. I was not in any position to micro-manage any of the MOF Inc companies, including SRC. Furthermore, SRC is only one of the MOF Inc companies that are involved in projects of national interest at that time.

"There is no reason for me to give orders to the SRC board of directors through Nik Faisal. It is clear now that Nik Faisal had played both sides," he said.

Najib also told the court that he was puzzled how directors of the company, including Ismee, could accept Nik Faisal's words at face value especially in handling matters related to the company's funds. - Mkini