A former director of SRC International Sdn Bhd testified that the authorities never detained him but merely barred him from travelling overseas in 2018.
Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi was giving oral evidence to the Kuala Lumpur High Court during today’s full hearing of SRC’s US$1.18 billion (RM5.6 billion) civil suit against former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.
Najib is serving a six-year jail term and was fined RM50 million over a separate criminal corruption case involving RM42 million of funds from SRC, a former subsidiary of 1MDB that later became fully owned by the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MOF Inc).
SRC’s civil action against the former finance minister is linked to the RM4 billion in loans it received from Retirement Fund Incorporated (Kwap) between 2011 and 2012. Kwap is a statutory body under the Finance Ministry.
During the hearing of SRC’s lawsuit, Shahrol (above) was replying during cross-examination by Najib’s lawyer Harvinderjit Singh.
Shahrol’s testimony is in his capacity as a third-party respondent Najib brought into the civil action.
Harvinderjit: Your passport was impounded? And you?
Shahrol: My passport was not impounded, but I was restricted from travelling (overseas). I was not arrested.
Back in 2019 during a separate ongoing criminal graft trial against Najib involving RM2.27 billion of funds from 1MDB, Shahrol testified that there was a travel ban against the prosecution witness to prevent his disappearance. His testimony was in his capacity as former CEO of 1MDB.
The hearing of the SRC civil action against Najib is set to continue before judge Ahmad Fairuz Zainol Abidin on Wednesday.
‘Grand chess master’
In the course of the trial, Shahrol testified among others that Najib had absolute power over SRC, and the witness portrayed the ex-premier as a “grand chess master”.
Under its new management, SRC filed the suit in May 2021, alleging that Najib, as adviser emeritus of the plaintiff, had committed breach of trust and abuse of power, personally benefited from the company’s funds, and misappropriated billions of ringgit.
The MOF Inc-owned company also seeks a court declaration that Najib is responsible for its losses due to a purported breach of duties and trust, and for the ex-minister to repay the RM42 million.
The plaintiff also seeks a court order for Najib to be made to account for the former’s US$1.18 billion loss, as well as repay an amount of US$120 million of its funds that allegedly flowed into the former premier’s bank account. - Mkini
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.