SRC TRIAL | The Court of Appeal could not accept Najib Abdul Razak's explanation that all his actions in regard to SRC International Sdn Bhd were done in the "national interest".
In the summary judgment read today, the Court of Appeal panel explained that Najib was actively involved in ensuring that SRC International secured a RM4 billion loan from Retirement Fund Incorporated (Kwap) in 2011 and 2012.
At the time, Najib was finance minister and prime minister. He secured the cabinet's approval for the finance ministry to be the guarantor for the loans.
The court was also convinced Najib had overarching control of SRC International by virtue of the prime minister's role as advisor emeritus of the company which was supposed to invest in energy and national resources.
Once the funds were disbursed, the judges opined that Najib became "indifferent" to how the funds were used and instructed the then second finance minister Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah to "keep off" SRC International.
"This conduct of the appellant can be indicative of only one thing, and that is, once the funds had been secured by SRC, over which the appellant had overarching control, he was free to utilise them for his personal benefit.
"This is manifested by the flow of the RM42 million from SRC into his personal accounts. This is not something that can be said to have been done in the national interest.
"There is no national interest here, just a national embarrassment," said the judges.
The Court of Appeal panel consists of Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil, Has Zanah Mehat, and Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera.
The judges said it was "absurd" for the government to guarantee a loan to a government-linked company that does not have the ability to repay the loan or service the interest.
"Certainly, it would not be in the national interest to have a stable of insolvent companies, with full government exposure to the loans taken by these companies.
"That is simply bad financial management of public funds," said the judges.
The Court of Appeal today upheld the verdict of High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali who convicted Najib of seven charges relating to the flow of RM42 million from SRC International to his personal bank accounts.
Nazlan sentenced Najib to 12 years in jail and fined him RM210 million.
The Court of Appeal has allowed Najib's application for a stay of execution pending appeal at the Federal Court. - Mkini
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