KUALA LUMPUR – Former AmBank relationship manager Joanna Yu said she experienced “stress” handling Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s accounts as there were political repercussions if the former prime minister's cheques bounced due to insufficient funds.
Testifying against Najib in the main trial for the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal, Yu also explained that there was added pressure on her and the bank branch handling the accounts in ensuring they were not overdrawn, as Najib had repeatedly issued cheques beyond the account balance.
Yu said Najib would also suffer negative public perception if news on bad cheques were published on local media publications.
Under re-examination by deputy public prosecutor Wan Ahmad Akram Gharib, Yu said that in avoiding this, she often communicated with businessman Low Taek Jho (Jho Low), or the accounts’ mandate holder Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, to ensure Najib’s personal bank account had sufficient balance.
“It was very stressful and challenging because it was the PM’s account and you knew you could not screw it up.
“There was also this concern of ‘what would happen to the PM’s reputation if local media finds out that cheques he issued by him were to bounce’.
“So yes, it was stressful,” she said.
Akram then asked Yu about normal bank procedures and what they would have done if an account were to be overdrawn more than once, to which the former banker said that the bank would automatically close the accounts.
However, Najib was given leeway due to supposed concerns of negative repercussions to his reputation as prime minister, said Yu.
Yu also explained that Najib was the only signatory to the cheques that he issued.
Based on the transactions, Akram then asked Yu whether either Low or Nik Faisal had personally benefited from monies remitted to Najib’s account, to which she answered no.
Yu also denied personally benefiting from monies transferred into Najib’s account.
The former AmBank relationship manager is the 41th prosecution witness in this trial and has testified before in Najib’s SRC International Sdn Bhd’s corruption trial as well.
In the ongoing trial, he faces four charges of using his position to obtain bribes totalling RM2.3 billion from 1MDB funds and 21 charges of money laundering involving the same amount.
The trial resumes before judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues tomorrow. – The Vibes, February 8, 2023
