KUALA LUMPUR: Former prime minister Najib Razak today told the High Court he asked his wife Rosmah Mansor to select jewellery items that were meant as a present to a former Qatari leader’s wife.
Najib said this when questioned by ad-hoc prosecutor V Sithambaram on the nature of the purchase, through his credit card, from Swiss jeweller de Grisogono’s outlet in Italy on Aug 8, 2014.
Sithambaram pointed out that 10 transactions had been charged to his Ambank credit card with the total amount being €763,000 (RM3.5 million) on that day.
“I have to check with my wife. She was the one who made the purchases. I asked my wife to choose them,” he said.
To that, Sithambaram told Najib: “A woman knows best what a woman wants.”
Previously, the case investigating officer, Rosli Husain of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), had told the court that the 2014 jewellery purchase and a purported letter of gratitude from Noor Abdulaziz Abdulla Turki Al-Subaie to Rosmah were never raised in the course of investigations.
Najib had taken to Facebook to say that he used his credit card to purchase gifts for a member of the royal family, adding it was the norm to present gifts to foreign dignitaries.
To another question by Sithambaram on the purchase of a US$130,625 watch from a Chanel outlet in Hawaii for Rosmah, Najib agreed with the ad-hoc prosecutor’s suggestion that the watch was “quite a luxurious” gift.
Sithambaram asked whether the watch was a personal expenditure, and Najib said yes.
Sithambaram then went on to show that the watch was not the only personal item that Najib had spent money on.
“You said that the Chanel watch was the only item you spent for personal purpose but there are also other purchases.”
Najib replied, “yes, but they were much, much smaller items”.
Sithambaram then showed Najib his credit card statement for January 2014, where US$43,055 was charged to the card for purchases at Stefano Ricci and House in Bijan in Beverly Hills.
Sithambaram: What were the two items you purchased from House of Bijan?
Najib: Probably jackets or suits. I cannot remember
Meanwhile, the judge today reminded Najib not to post anything about the on-going trial as he was still under oath.
The hearing continues on Jan 20, before High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali.
Najib is facing 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 Incorporated. - FMT
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