Court to decide on Najib's appeal in AMMB Holdings suit

The Court of Appeal will decide on Thursday (Jan 27) whether to allow Najib Razak's appeal to reinstate his lawsuit against AMMB Holdings Bhd and two others over alleged mismanagement of his bank accounts.

A three-member bench comprising Justices Yaacob Md Sam, Hadhariah Syed Ismail, and Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim deferred their decision to Thursday after lawyers appearing for the former prime minister and bank completed their submissions.

“We need more time to consider the submissions of the parties. For that reason we will defer our decision to this coming Thursday, Jan 27,” said Justice Yaacob who led the bench at the online proceedings today.

The hearing of Najib's appeal resumed today with submissions by lawyers Yoong Sin Min and Benjamin John Dawson who acted for AMMB Holdings and AmBank Islamic Bhd and a reply from Najib's lawyers Muhammad Shafee Abdullah and Harvinderjit Singh.

Najib appealed for the court to reinstate his suit against AMMB Holdings, AmBank Islamic, and its former customer relationship manager Joanna Yu Ging Ping.

Yu was one of the prosecution’s witnesses in the SRC International Sdn Bhd trial where Najib faced seven charges relating to alleged misappropriation of RM42 million of SRC International funds.

The suit was struck out in September 2020 by Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Khadijah Idris who ruled the suit was an abuse of the court process as it amounted to a collateral attack on Najib's SRC International criminal case as, in the suit, the court is required to adjudicate on Najib's knowledge of monies paid into his account which was the same issues before the criminal court in the SRC International case.

Yoong submitted that Najib ought not to be allowed to relitigate the same issues relating to his knowledge on the transactions of his account in his civil suit which was already decided by the trial judge in the SRC International criminal case.

She said Najib filed the action only after he was cross-examined by the prosecution in the SRC International criminal proceedings and after the prosecution made the submission that he never took any action against the bank in respect of his accounts.

Najib's defence to the SRC International charges was that the transactions in relation to his accounts were carried out without his knowledge and by unauthorised persons.

Yoong said prior to 2016, the issue concerning the dealings and transactions in Najib's accounts had already surfaced when he was investigated by the MACC but he never took any action or lodged any complaint against the respondents - the bank and Yu.

Meanwhile, Harvinderjit submitted that the case should be remitted back to the High Court for trial, adding that Najib should be given his day in court.

“The case before this court is one in negligence. It is not a case for us to determine whether Najib is innocent or not,” he said.

He added that the issue to be determined in the trial is whether or not there is a breach of duty of care by the bank.

On July 28 last year, High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali convicted and sentenced Najib to 12 years in jail and fined him RM210 million over the SRC International criminal case.

The Court of Appeal upheld the High Court judge's decision on Dec 8 last year. Najib's appeal is pending in the Federal Court.

In his suit against AmBank, AMMB Holdings, and Yu, Najib contended in his statement of claim that AmBank and Yu committed negligence when handling his bank accounts by disclosing them to fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low.

Najib claimed that AmBank, AMMB Holdings, and Yu, without authorisation, disclosed his bank statements, debit and credit remittance transactions, and balances of funds of one of his accounts to Jho Low as the third party.

The court heard submissions from lawyer Gurdial Singh Nijar, who represents Yu, on Dec 2.

- Bernama