PUTRAJAYA – The Court of Appeal heard today that Datuk Seri Najib Razak did not travel to Switzerland to bring back funds belonging to SRC International Sdn Bhd that were frozen by the Swiss government for money laundering.
In fact, ad hoc prosecutor Datuk V. Sithambaram said the former premier did not even resolve the matter until he left office.
“The appellant (Najib) did not travel to Switzerland to repatriate the funds back to Malaysia. My Lord, I did not expect this from him as he was the prime minister and finance minister at the material time.
“SRC was Najib’s ‘baby’. He was the only shareholder in SRC. But he did not make any effort to go to Switzerland and resolve the issue,” he said.
He submitted this before a three-member bench led by judge Datuk Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil in the hearing of Najib’s appeal against his conviction and jail sentence for the misappropriation of RM42 million in SRC International funds.
The other two judges on the bench are Datuk Has Zanah Mehat and Datuk Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera.
Sithambaram said former finance minister II Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah had testified at the Kuala Lumpur High Court that Najib had refused to allow a government delegation to go to Switzerland to clarify issues relating to the money that was frozen by the Swiss government.
“The appellant’s (Najib) motive for this refusal is highly questionable. The money (amounting to RM3.6 billion) was part of the RM4 billion loan from the Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP) to SRC. It was pension funds,” he said.
Previously, Najib had testified that he did not grant permission to Husni to fly to Switzerland as the latter had no “proper plan” to retrieve the frozen funds and had not made any formal application for that purpose either.
The high court had on July 28 last year sentenced Najib to 12 years’ jail and a RM210 million fine after finding him guilty on seven charges of criminal breach of trust, money laundering and abuse of position, involving RM42 million in SRC International funds.
The hearing of the appeal continues tomorrow. – Bernama, April 14, 2021
