This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on December 4, 2019
KUALA LUMPUR: Former prime minister (PM) Datuk Seri Najib Razak has denied having any personal interest in SRC International Sdn Bhd, except for his professional interest as the prime minister and finance minister.
“My only interest in the SRC is that it is in the national interest,” he told the High Court here yesterday as he took the witness stand to make a sworn statement after Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali ruled a prima facie case was established by the prosecution in the trial for alleged misappropriation of RM42 million in SRC.
Najib said this when his defence counsel Wan Aizuddin Wan Mohammed asked the former premier about a statement by the 41st prosecution witness Afidah Azwa, who is also a ministry of finance (MoF) official.
“I explicitly state that I have no personal interest in SRC, except for my professional interests as the PM and finance minister, and my public duty to act on the best interests of the government of Malaysia,” he said.
Afidah previously told the High Court that she prepared a memorandum for SRC’s first RM2 billion loan under duress on Aug 15, 2011, as she was told the company belonged to the then-PM.
Wan Aizuddin asked Najib whether this is true and that procedures for SRC’s loan approvals were sped up, to which he replied that the loan was discussed since June 2011 and he did not receive any complaints about the process.
Najib said he understood why MoF officials had the perception that the whole process was done in a hurry because they were not privy to this matter at the early stage.
“Nevertheless, I did not compromise the integrity of the process ... I did not give any directive to any member of the Treasury to expedite this matter through the cabinet as implied by Afidah Azwa, who mistakenly and unknowingly called SRC the ‘PM’s company’.”
Wan Aizuddin also asked Najib whether he gave his approval to appoint Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil and Vincent Koh Beng Huat as SRC’s directors.
He replied that he was not informed of this matter and hence did not provide any approval.
Nonetheless, Najib said in August 2011, former 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) chief executive officer Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi provided him the proposed list of names for SRC directors.
Najib said the list named Tan Sri Ismee Ismail as the chairman and Nik Faisal as the chief executive officer and managing director for SRC.
“I was told that these individuals were chosen by 1MDB and I did not see any reason to not agree with the candidate they named,” he said.
Najib also said prior to the appointment, he already knew Ismee personally, as the latter served on the board of a few government-linked companies including Lembaga Tabung Haji.
Najib also said he knew Shahrol and Nik Faisal personally before the appointment because the duo were part of the senior management in 1MDB.
“I knew [Datuk Suboh Md Yassin] was formerly secretary-general in the ministry of natural resources and environment. I didn’t know Datuk Che Abdullah @ Rashidi Che Omar and assume he was chosen by 1MDB based on his past experiences,” he said.