Suspicious US$865mil transfer was red-flagged, witness tells court

 

SRC International is suing former prime minister Najib Razak for US$1.18 billion at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: A former BSI banker told the High Court in Kuala Lumpur today he was concerned that SRC International (Malaysia) Limited’s SRC BVI account at the bank had received US$865 million in a short period of time, and he suspected these transactions were fraudulent.

Former BSI Bank head of wealth management services, Kevin Swampillai, 64, said the SRC BVI account had received huge incoming funds between November 2011 and April 2012 from SRC International Sdn Bhd, adding that he had raised this concern to his superiors, so that suspicious transaction reports (STR) could be filed, Bernama reported.

“STR is the responsibility of the bank’s compliance department and the client acceptance committee (CAC), which has the responsibility to monitor a politically exposed client account’s transactions and activities.

“I did raise my suspicion about these transactions to my supervisor, which was tendered as evidence in court (in another trial).

“I was concerned because we did not know where the money was going and had no visibility where it ended up.

“My concerns were raised because SRC undertook a number of frequent transactions, but no action was taken by the bank’s senior management,” he said.

Swampillai presented his testimony under cross-examination by counsel Harvinderjit Singh representing Najib Razak in SRC’s US$1.18 billion lawsuit against the former prime minister.

Kevin Swampillai.

The suit is being heard before Justice Ahmad Fairuz Zainol Abidin.

Also named as a defendant in the suit is former SRC CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil.

Harvinderjit asked Swampillai whether he had met any of SRC BVI’s board of directors during the time these transactions were made, to which the witness said he had not.

SRC, under its new management, filed the suit in May 2021, claiming that Najib had committed breach of trust and abuse of power, had personally benefitted from the company’s funds, and had misappropriated the said funds.

The company is seeking general, exemplary and additional damages, as well as interest, costs and other appropriate relief provided by the court.

It is also seeking a court declaration that Najib is responsible for the company’s losses and that he should pay back the RM42 million he took from the company.

Najib, 70, was convicted of embezzling RM42 million in SRC funds in July 2020, and was sentenced to 12 years in prison and a RM210 million fine. His conviction and sentence were subsequently upheld by the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court.

Last month, the Federal Territories Pardons Board cut his prison sentence to six years and his fine to RM50 million.

The hearing continues tomorrow. - FMT