Day 20: 'Najib asking to expedite loan separate issue from reduced SRC loan'
LIVE | The criminal trial of former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak involving the alleged misappropriation of funds from SRC International Sdn Bhd enters its 20th day today at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysiakini brings you live reports of the proceedings...
LIVE | The criminal trial of former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak involving the alleged misappropriation of funds from SRC International Sdn Bhd enters its 20th day today at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysiakini brings you live reports of the proceedings.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- Hearing adjourned until June 10
- 'Najib asking to expedite loan separate issue from reduced SRC loan'
- Najib's note wasn't an instruction, says KWAP ex-CEO
- Ex-CEO declines to answer defence's queries on KWAP loan procedures
- Judge asks KWAP ex-CEO about gap in sequence of events
- Defence alleges prosecution is being 'too loose with words'
- Najib 'shocked' about RM42m transfer into his accounts - witness
- Witness: MACC wanted me to admit I knew RM42m went to Najib
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Reporting by Hariz Mohd and Hidir Reduan. Photographs by Azneal Ishak. Social media updates by Ewe Linq Yenn.
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Hearing adjourned until June 10
3.45pm - Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali calls it a day, and adjourns the SRC International trial until June 10.
The hearing is expected to resume with the cross-examination of 38th prosecution witness Azian Mohd Noh, the former CEO of Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP).
Defence counsel Harvinderjit Singh had told the court that he would need about one more hour to question the witness.
'Najib asking to expedite loan separate issue from reduced SRC loan'
3.05pm - Former Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP) CEO Azian Mohd Noh describes two actions as being independent of each other – SRC International reducing the loan amount being applied for, and then-premier Najib Abdul Razak allegedly asking KWAP to expedite the loan approval process.
Najib's lawyer Harvinderjit Singh had asked Azian whether there was any link between Najib allegedly asking KWAP to expedite the loan in 2011, and the actual first loan, which was eventually approved for a sum of RM2 billion.
SRC International had initially sought an RM3.95 billion loan from KWAP.
According to Azian's witness statement, Najib had told KWAP chairperson Wan Abdul Aziz Wan Abdullah to expedite the loan approval process, and that an RM2 billion loan would be sufficient.
Wan Abdul Aziz had conveyed what Najib had said to Azian, who in turn informed the KWAP investment panel meeting about this development on July 19, 2011.
Harvinderjit: This request for RM2 billion was quite independent of what the KWAP chairperson told you on July 19, 2011?
Azian: They were two different things.
Harvinderjit: SRC International had initially applied for RM3.95 billion, then the request was lowered to RM2 billion?
Azian: I cannot recall.
Najib's note wasn't an instruction, says KWAP ex-CEO
2.20pm - Former Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP) CEO Azian Mohd Noh testifies that then-premier Najib Abdul Razak's handwritten note on SRC International’s loan application, which expressed his approval for KWAP to invest in the 1MDB subsidiary, did not amount to an instruction for the fund to do so.
The application in question was SRC International’s 2011 bid for an RM3.95 billion loan.
Azian tells this to Najib's lawyer Harvinderjit Singh during cross-examination.
Azian: The way I see it, the finance minister agrees with KWAP investing RM3.95 billion in SRC International as per the letter (loan application by SRC International).
Harvinderjit: Does this mean he (Najib) instructed KWAP to give the loan?
Azian: It means he agreed.
Harvinderjit then asked Azian if the KWAP investment panel had the power to approve loans without being bound by the Prime Minister’s Office or prime minister.
She replied, “That is what is mentioned in the act”. The Retirement Fund Act 2007 governs the functions and powers of KWAP.
Harvinderjit: Your instruction to Norhisyam (a staff in KWAP's fixed income department) was not to approve it, but to leave it to his discretion?
Azian: Yes.
Harvinderjit: At no time were you, Norhisyam, or the fixed income department compelled to approve it, you did not take it as an instruction?
Azian: I definitely did not take it as an instruction.
Previous testimony revealed that SRC International's two-page application letter for an RM3.95 billion loan from KWAP contained Najib's annotation, in which he expressed approval for the application.
The application letter was forwarded to KWAP in 2011 when Azian was the fund's CEO.
1.51pm - Proceedings resume with the cross-examination of former KWAP CEO Azian Mohd Noh by Najib's lawyer Harvinderjit Singh.
1pm - Court adjourns for a 45-minute break.
11.57am - Proceedings resume.
11.15am - The court adjourns for a 15-minute break.
Ex-CEO declines to answer defence's queries on KWAP loan procedures
11am - Former CEO of Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP) Azian Mohd Noh declines to answer several questions from defence lawyer Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden.
This occurs when Yusof touches upon KWAP's procedures in approving loan applications from SRC International in 2011 and 2012, which amounted to a total of RM4 billion.
Among the questions the witness does not answer is whether it was normal for KWAP to approve a loan application that is based on a government guarantee before receiving the letter of guarantee itself.
"No, I cannot comment on that. I cannot comment just because I haven't experienced that," she says.
Earlier, Azian also testified under cross-examination by Yusof that KWAP's main consideration in approving SRC International's loan was the then 1MDB subsidiary's ability to repay it.
A government guarantee, she adds, only gives further assurance to KWAP in approving the application.
"The guarantee strengthens the justification of the loan, because if it's guaranteed, it's zero risk to KWAP," she says.
Judge asks KWAP ex-CEO about gap in sequence of events
10.15am - High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali (photo) asks former Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP) CEO Azian Mohd Noh about the gap in the sequence of events between Paragraph 23 and 24 of her written witness statement.
The judge notes that, according to paragraph 23, the witness went with KWAP chairperson Wan Abdul Aziz Wan Abdullah to meet then prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.
The pair intended to brief him on the KWAP investment panel's initial decision to approve an RM1 billion loan to SRC International.
Azian had testified yesterday that the meeting took place in June 2011.
However, Nazlan observes that the next paragraph states that Amirul Imran Ahmat, a previous witness who worked at KWAP at the time, had prepared an investment paper for an RM2 billion loan to the 1MDB subsidiary.
"It does not quite flow," he says.
"The entirety of the rest of your witness statement was chronological, then suddenly there is a gap (with a) jump from RM1 billion to RM2 billion."
Azian says she does not remember the specific sequence of events.
"But I remember the subsequent meeting of (KWAP) investment panel where the chairperson communicated to me to tell the panel members that the prime minister has communicated to him for KWAP to expedite the loan and that RM2 billion would suffice," she adds.
The judge asks whether Azian's recollection is mentioned in the witness statement.
Deputy public prosecutor Ishak Mohd Yusoff replies that it is available in paragraph 30.
Defence alleges prosecution is being 'too loose with words'
10am - Najib Abdul Razak's counsel Harvinderjit Singh (photo) objects to the line of questioning by deputy public prosecutor Ishak Mohd Yusoff towards the 38th witness, former Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP) CEO Azian Mohd Noh.
Ishak had asked Azian whether she had ever seen a situation in which the Finance Ministry issued a government guarantee for a large loan after it had been disbursed.
After the former CEO replied in the negative, the DPP then asked her whether it was surprising to see this happen to public funds in the case of KWAP's loan to SRC International.
Harvinderjit then objected, telling High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali that Ishak's questioning amounted to being "too loose with words".
Ishak: The Finance Ministry expressed hope that KWAP would issue the loan (RM2 billion to SRC International) first and then the ministry would issue the guarantee 10 working days later (after the loan was disbursed). Have you ever seen this before during your tenure as KWAP CEO?
Azian: Not in the same scenario, it has never happened before.
Ishak: This was public funds, was it surprising to see this happen?
Harvinderjit: I object. Where is the evidence to suggest this (RM2 billion loan) was public funds? This is a loan. My learned friend must not be too loose with words. (He) must show evidence first this was even public funds.
Ishak then rephrases his questions to Azian, who resumes reading out her written testimony.
Najib 'shocked' about RM42m transfer into his accounts - witness
9.30am - Ihsan Perdana managing director Dr Shamsul Anwar Sulaiman (photo) testifies that Najib Abdul Razak was upset upon finding out that RM42 million had been transferred from Ihsan Perdana's account into the then-prime minister's two AmIslamic accounts.
He tells Najib's lead counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah this during cross-examination.
Ihsan Perdana was the corporate social responsibility arm of former 1MDB subsidiary SRC International.
Shamsul says he witnessed Najib's reaction when he visited the then prime minister at his Kuala Lumpur residence on Jalan Langgak Duta, following Shamsul's remand by MACC for a few days in 2015.
Shafee: When you went to see Najib and told the story (about the remand and questioning by MACC), what was Najib's reaction?
Shamsul: He was shocked about someone putting money into his accounts. He did not even know who put the money, (or) why it was done through my company (Ihsan Perdana). He was very upset, and I apologised to him. The last company that transferred the money was my company. If only I had known the source of the funds.
Shafee: You testified in court that you were only following instructions (to transfer the RM42 million into Najib's two accounts)?
Shamsul: I did not (have dishonest intentions). My conscience is clear. The money all this while (that passed through Ihsan Perdana to other accounts) was for CSR. My belief was that it was for a good purpose.
Shafee: Was Najib's reaction genuine?
Shamsul: He was genuinely shocked.
During re-examination by deputy public prosecutor Muhammad Saifuddin Hashim Musaimi, Shamsul admits that despite being shocked, Najib did not ask him to file a report with the authorities.
Saifuddin: Did he (Najib) asked you to lodge a report with the police or MACC?
Shamsul: No.
Earlier, Shamsul testified that during the remand, he discovered that the MACC officers were questioning him about the alleged abetment of offences related to Ihsan Perdana's money transfers.
After testifying, the Ihsan Perdana managing director is released from the witness stand.
Witness: MACC wanted me to admit I knew RM42m went to Najib
9.20am - The hearing starts today with lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah (below) continuing the cross-examination of 37th prosecution witness Dr Shamsul Anwar Sulaiman.
Shamsul, who is the managing director of corporate social responsibility company Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd, tells the court about his time under MACC remand back in 2015.
He testifies that the MACC had wanted him to admit that he knew that RM42 million transferred out of Ihsan Perdana's account had gone into the accounts of former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.
According to Shamsul, MACC had reminded him that he was in the prospect of being charged for abetting in an offence related to criminal breach of trust.
Shafee: They kept reminding you that you were facing the prospects of being charged?
Shamsul: Yes.
Shafee: Were you worried?
Shamsul: But I denied (sic) ...I didn't know who was the receiver. So I told them, you want the truth, or you want me to tell lies? So I told them the truth, that I didn't know. (And) the money was for CSR.
Shafee: When you told them you want truth or lies, why did you say that? Were they suggesting you say something else?
Shamsul: They want me to say something else, but I didn't budge.
Shafee: What did they want you to say?
Shamsul: They said I knew who owned the private accounts. That's the most important thing. But I didn't know.
Shamsul also replies in the affirmative to a question by Shafee that the MACC had wanted him to implicate another person in the case.
He said he later learned that it was Najib.
Shafee: Was there any question (in which) they wanted you to implicate another person?
Shamsul: Yes, Najib. I knew after I was remanded. Then afterwards from the media, I knew it was Najib.
9.10am - Wearing a light grey suit, accused Najib Abdul Razak enters the dock as proceedings begin.
Seen in the witness stand is 37th witness Ihsan Perdana managing director Dr Shamsul Anwar Sulaiman, who will continue his cross-examination by Najib's defence.
It is understood that examination in chief of former Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP) CEO and 38th witness Azian Mohd Noh will resume after Shamsul's testimony is done.
Former Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP) chief executive officer Azian Mohd Noh will resume her testimony on the 20th day of Najib Abdul Razak's RM42 million SRC International trial today.
The 38th witness is expected to give further oral evidence over her role in the fund's greenlighting of the total RM4 billion loan to 1MDB's then-subsidiary, SRC International.
Her testimony will be given during examination-in-chief by the prosecution before Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali.
Yesterday, Azian told the court how she was handed SRC International's initial loan application by Najib's then-special officer Azlin Alias, now deceased, at a hotel at KL Sentral in June 2011.
The witness recounted how she felt the letter did not fulfil the basic requirements for a loan application to KWAP despite the letter being addressed to then-premier Najib.
She noted that KWAP chairperson Wan Abdul Aziz Wan Abdullah had made her follow him to the Prime Minister's Office in June 2011 to inform Najib that the KWAP investment panel had made an initial decision to only approve an RM1 billion loan, despite SRC International initially applying for an RM3.95 billion loan.
Azian recalled how despite all this, the KWAP investment panel later unanimously decided to approve an RM2 billion loan following Najib's urging for the loan application to be expedited.
She also testified that as then-finance minister, Najib advised SRC International to seek an additional loan from KWAP as it was already granted an initial RM2 billion loan by the fund in late 2011.
SRC International obtained another RM2 billion loan from KWAP in early 2012.
