Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak said he was unaware of any reports in April 2016 by Bank Negara regarding a former central bank governor's spouse.
"At the time, I was prime minister. Neither the governor at the time, Bank Negara or any government agency informed me of the matter.
"I only learned of this in late 2020 when a statutory declaration by the governor's family to the Singaporean authorities was exposed," he wrote on his Facebook page.
Najib was referring to a statement by Bank Negara yesterday, which stated that it had received information from a foreign financial intelligence unit regarding the husband of a former Bank Negara governor.
Following this, Bank Negara said it had reported the matter to an unnamed enforcement agency in April 2016 as required under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001.
At the time, Najib was prime minister and finance minister. Zeti Akhtar Aziz was the Bank Negara governor until April 30, 2016.
On Feb 22, convicted former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner told a New York court that he was informed by his former subordinate that Zeti's husband had been "bribed".
The "bribe", as Leissner understood it, allowed for 1MDB to move US$1 billion abroad in 2009 for the purported PetroSaudi-1MDB joint venture.
Leissner said he was unaware if any bribes had been actually paid.
His testimony on Feb 22 saw him naming Zeti twice, but never her husband Tawfiq Ayman.
In a statement today, Tawfiq said he had never received any bribes in his life, nor was he acquainted with Leissner nor Ng.
Meanwhile, Najib argued that if Bank Negara had indeed reported the former Bank Negara governor's spouse, then it would mean that the previous Pakatan Harapan and Perikatan Nasional-administrations were aware of the report.
"The former governor is thus an important witness in the SRC and 1MDB trials against me.
"Why hasn't the prosecution provided information to my lawyers for me to defend myself?" said Najib.
He said the prosecution has claimed that they had no such information regarding the former governor. - Mkini
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