KUALA LUMPUR – A total of RM2,081,476,926 was deposited in Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s personal Ambank account between March and April of 2013, the high court heard today.
Testifying against the former prime minister in his 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) corruption trial, the bank’s Jalan Raja Chulan branch manager R. Uma Devi said the monies were transferred in nine different tranches beginning from March 22, 2013, to April 10, 2013.
The payments, which totalled US$681 million (RM3.13 billion) were made to Najib’s AmIslamic Bank Berhad account ending with 9694.
The funds were transferred from Tanore Finance Corporation, which is beneficially owned by Eric Tan Kim Loong, an allegedly close associate of fugitive financier Low Taek Jho or Jho Low.
At the start of the trial, the prosecution posited that this sum of money was from an abortive joint venture between 1MDB and Aabar Investment PJS Ltd (Aabar BVI), which is known to be a fake entity under the control of Jho Low.
The joint venture was purportedly to develop the Tun Razak Exchange in Kuala Lumpur.
However, a majority of the funds, RM2,034,350,000 or RM2.03 billion, were then transferred back to Tanore in four separate tranches in August 2013.
Najib had maintained in his SRC International Sdn Bhd trial that the funds transferred to his account were from Arab donors.
In this trial, the prosecution aims to tender evidence to show that Najib and his “alter ego” had produced fake letters and cheques to falsely represent that the monies misappropriated from 1MDB had come from a rich Arab donor.
During examination-in-chief, Uma Devi explained that Najib’s personal bank account ending with 9694 and 1880 was accorded special “approval” by the bank’s higher-ups.
Similarly, both bank accounts were not issued an ATM card. Uma stressed that Najib has full control of all his bank accounts.
The hearing before high court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah resumes tomorrow.
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 Vibes, September 26, 2022
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