Credit card spending showed Najib knew funds were from SRC: DPP

 

Lavish credit card spending in Hawaii and Italy showed that Najib Abdul Razak was aware that the RM42 million of SRC International funds had flowed into his account, the Court of Appeal heard today.

Deputy public prosecutor V Sithambaram submitted this today before the three-person bench hearing the former prime minister’s appeal in his RM42 million SRC corruption case.

Najib is appealing to quash his conviction and sentencing over seven charges of abuse of power, criminal breach of trust (CBT) and money laundering involving RM42 million from SRC.

Sithambaram’s submission today is in relation to the three money-laundering charges against Najib.

In counter-submitting against the former premier’s appeal today, Sithambaram said that the immediate utilisation of the millions of ringgit in Najib’s bank accounts revealed the appellant’s knowledge that the money was from SRC.

The DPP was referring to testimony heard during the High Court criminal trial whereby the prosecution revealed the US$130,625 (RM543,530) charged to Najib's credit card for a purchase of a Chanel watch in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Dec 22, 2014.

During the criminal trial at the High Court, the prosecution had also revealed spending involving Najib’s account at De Grisogono, Sardinia in Italy involving an expense of €763,500 (RM3.514 million).

At the high court stage, Najib had testified that he let his wife Rosmah Mansor pick her own birthday gift - the Chanel watch in question - a treat to make up for having to abruptly leave his family in Hawaii to return to deal with a flood crisis in Malaysia.

The lower court also heard Najib’s testimony that the spending at Grisogono on Aug 8, 2014, was to buy a gift for the wife of the former Qatar prime minister at the time.

Najib had testified that he had relied on his personal account for the Grisogono purchase as he did not wish to use public funds for the transaction and that the gesture would benefit Malaysians.

Sithambaram today submitted that the spending, among other evidence, established "willful blindness" on the part of Najib and that the defence had not rebutted this evidence of wilful blindness.

“It is clear that the appellant (Najib) had utilised the funds received from SRC in full based on the evidence adduced in the money trail and elaborated earlier in the CBT charges.

"There is no need for any inference to be drawn as the evidence is unequivocal in showing the utilisation by the appellant.

“The expenditure by the appellant proves his knowledge of the RM42 million from SRC entering his personal bank accounts,” Sithambaram submitted before the bench chaired by Court of Appeal judge Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil.

Najib's legal team contended that the former premier was innocent because, among other reasons, he had no knowledge that the RM42 million deposited in his accounts were from SRC.

The hearing continues tomorrow before the bench which also comprised Court of Appeal judges Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera and Has Zanah Mehat.

On July 28 last year, the Kuala Lumpur High Court convicted Najib on one count of abuse of power, three counts of CBT and three counts of money laundering in relation to RM42 million of funds from SRC

Trial judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali then sentenced Najib to 12 years in jail and a fine of RM210 million.

The lower court allowed the defence team's application for a stay of the sentence pending the disposal of his appeal.

SRC, which was once a subsidiary of troubled sovereign wealth fund 1MDB, later became fully owned by the Minister of Finance Incorporated.

Besides being former prime minister, Najib also used to be finance minister, SRC’s adviser emeritus, and chairperson of 1MDB’s board of advisers. - Mkini