Najib authorised 1MDB man to manage bank accounts, court told

 

AmBank branch manager R Uma Devi says millions were moved from Najib Razak’s initial two bank accounts to three new accounts.

KUALA LUMPUR: A bank manager told the High Court in Najib Razak’s 1MDB trial that the former prime minister had authorised then 1MDB chief investment officer Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil to manage his bank accounts in 2011.

R Uma Devi, AmBank’s Jalan Raja Chulan branch manager, said Nik Faisal was given the mandate to inquire into the status of Najib’s accounts, obtain bank statements, as well as give approval for cheques above RM250,000 to be cleared.

Nik Faisal, who subsequently became SRC International’s CEO, is currently a fugitive sought by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

Uma said Najib opened two accounts – a savings account ending with 481, and a current account ending with 694 – on Jan 13, 2011. Both accounts were closed on Aug 26, 2013.

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Three other accounts – ending with 880, 906 and 898 – were later opened on July 31, 2013 and closed on March 9, 2015.

She said that after the initial two accounts were closed, Najib instructed the bank to transfer the remaining RM150 million to one of the three new accounts, ending with 880.

She said another RM12.4 million from the first two accounts was also moved to the 880 account.

“Nik Faisal was also appointed to manage the three new accounts,” she said.

Uma also told the court that between Feb 24 and June 14, 2011, a sum of RM60.5 million was deposited into Najib’s 694 account.

However, she did not specify where the RM60.5 million came from.

She agreed that “the account holder (Najib) is responsible for the transactions in his account”.

The prosecution, in its opening statement, had said that between Feb 24 and June 14, 2011, Najib had received US$20 million, initially meant for 1MDB’s joint venture with PetroSaudi International Limited (PSI).

1MDB had pumped in US$1 billion for the joint venture purpose.

Najib is standing trial for 25 charges of abuse of power and money laundering over alleged 1MDB funds amounting to RM2.28 billion deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.

Najib, who was taken to Kajang prison to serve his sentence over the SRC corruption case last month, was present in court today.

The hearing before High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues. - FMT