KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 6): The cross-examination of Joanna Yu, the former AmBank relationship liaison manager who handled accounts belonging to former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is accused of taking funds from SRC International Sdn Bhd, is expected to conclude this morning, marking eight gruelling days on the stand for the 54th prosecution witness.
Yesterday, the defence revealed to the High Court how fugitive financier Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, had instructed the transfer of RM40 million from SRC into Najib's personal AmBank accounts to reverse transactions worth RM32 million from two companies owned by Putrajaya Perdana Bhd.
The cash transfusion was necessary to enable the reversal of the transactions as his accounts had insufficient funds; the account ending 880 had a balance of only RM6.8 million while another one ending 906 was overdrawn by RM3 million.
Meanwhile, the defence also claimed that Jho Low may have skipped getting approvals from Najib for at least one transfer from 2011 to 2015.
Excerpts from Yu's BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) chat with Jho Low showed one instance in December 2016, where she submitted a draft instruction letter — to be signed by Najib as the account owner — for transfers of RM27 million from his AmBank account ending 880.
Yu was the go-to person for the AmBank accounts of Najib and SRC, and frequently drafted instruction letters on behalf of missing former SRC chief executive officer Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, who had been appointed as the mandate holder for Najib's accounts.
The BBM transcript showed an exchange between Yu and Jho Low, where Yu tweaked the date of the instruction letter from Dec 24, 2014 to Dec 29, 2014.
The draft letter was sent via email to Jho Low — and within a minute, Jho Low had replied to Yu's email with Najib's scanned signature.
There was also no hard copy of the instruction letter submitted to AmBank's Jalan Raja Chulan branch, where the accounts were facilitated, as per standard operating procedure, based on documents produced in court.
Separately, the Court of Appeal also dismissed an application by the prosecution and defence to postpone Najib's trial on alleged laundering of RM2.28 billion worth of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) money from Tanore Finance Corp because "there is no miscarriage of justice" in the decision to not grant the postponement.
This would no doubt give the parties in the SRC trial an even greater urgency to conclude proceedings as the Aug 19 start date of the 1MDB trial looms closer.
Najib is currently facing seven charges of money laundering and abuse of power in relation to the RM42 million which was allegedly siphoned from SRC.
The Edge is bringing the trial involving Malaysia’s former highest-ranking politician who led the country for nine years live.