This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on December 11, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR: Former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak explained yesterday on the witness stand at the High Court here that he bought a Chanel watch of almost half a million ringgit for his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor to make up for cutting short their family holiday in Honolulu, the US.

Replying to his lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah’s questions, Najib said at that time, massive floods took place in the east coast states of Peninsular Malaysia, especially in Kelantan.

“The floods were the worst in 70 years,” Najib added.

He said he usually took 10 to 14 days off at the end of the year to spend time with his family.

“The watch purchase was on Dec 22, 2014 and after that, I played golf with then US president Barack Obama in Honolulu.

“I explained the situation to my family and they were really sad that I have to leave them immediately and go back to Malaysia. They were disappointed with my decision,” he said, elaborating that his son Nor Ashman Najib, working in Istanbul at that time, flew to Honolulu only to find out he was no longer there.

He added that due to that situation, he decided to buy something for his wife Rosmah, 68, and she chose the watch as it was near her birthday.

“I was on the belief that whatever funds I received, I could use them at my discretion. But this was the only purchase that was personal in nature using this [credit] card. I didn’t use this card for anything else,” he explained further.

Rosmah’s birthday falls on Dec 10. On Monday, Najib said he purchased the Chanel watch for US$130,625.

The former premier further explained that after the watch purchase, he did not go back to Kelantan but waited until he finished playing golf with Obama.

“A lot of people don’t know, when you play golf with someone, you spend five hours with the person. So I didn’t want to miss that chance. I wanted to establish a personal relationship with the most powerful man in the world at that time. This was for the country,” the Pekan member of parliament said.

Najib said immediately after the golf session, he took a commercial flight to Los Angeles, and then to Hong Kong.

From Hong Kong, he took a Royal Malaysian Air Force flight straight to Kelantan.

Najib said he spent some time with then Kelantan menteri besar, the late Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, visiting flood victims, and he also had some soup.

“However, after having the soup, I went into a colic that lasted for three days,” he added.

Najib has claimed trial to three counts of criminal breach of trust, one charge of abusing his power as prime minister, and three counts of money laundering over SRC International’s funds amounting to RM42 million.

He faces a 20-year jail term and a fine of RM5 million or five times the amount of money laundered, whichever is higher, if convicted.