KUALA LUMPUR – The high court today was told that Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s personal AmBank account was the first individual account created with a code name for the purpose of protecting information and preserving the account’s sensitivity.
Joanna Yu Ging Ping, 51, a former relationship manager at the bank, said Najib’s personal bank account ending with 694 was given the code name AmPrivate Banking-MR and the idea to use the code name was both a request and suggestion by fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low.
“Low also requested that this account be classified as ‘strictest confidence’, making it not easy to reveal Datuk Seri’s personal name to anyone, or anyone who had access to the account system at the bank’s branch.
“I recall being informed by former AmBank managing director Cheah Tek Kuang that this matter had been informed to the governor of Bank Negara Malaysia at that time.
“I would like to mention here that in all my dealings with private clients, this was the first time that an individual account had been created with a code name,” said Yu, adding that normally, code names were only assigned to certain corporate project accounts.
Earlier, the 41st prosecution witness testified that sometime in 2011, Low informed her that Najib was keen to open accounts with AmBank and Cheah should meet with the former prime minister to facilitate the opening of the accounts.
“Following the meeting that Cheah had with Najib on opening the accounts, I received the signed account opening forms from Cheah and passed them to the AmBank division to be processed.
“In relation to the opening of these accounts, I did not deal directly or meet with Najib himself. For all matters relating to Datuk Seri’s accounts, I dealt with Low and later with former 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) chief investment officer Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, after receiving a mandate letter from Najib listing Nik Faisal as his representative with the bank regarding his personal bank accounts,” said Yu.
Reading her witness statement at Najib’s trial involving the misappropriation of RM2.3 billion from 1MDB, Yu further said that any instruction from Nik Faisal was taken as having come from Najib.
“This mandate letter only allowed Nik Faisal the authority to direct the transfer of funds between the accounts of Najib, but he had no authority and could not make any transaction to any third-party account or any cash withdrawal.
“All instructions relating to third-party payments, transfers, and all cheques drawn from Najib’s account could only be authorised with Najib’s signature,” she said.
Najib, 69, is facing 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 before judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues on November 7. – The Vibes, October 13, 2022
