This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on April 26, 2019
KUALA LUMPUR: AmBank Raja Chulan branch manager R Uma Devi told the High Court here yesterday that the account holder “is liable for all the transactions in the account”.
Testifying during cross-examination by defence counsel Harvinderjit Singh in Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s SRC International Sdn Bhd criminal breach of trust (CBT), money laundering and abuse of power trial, Uma Devi was asked if an account holder was liable for transactions in his account, even if he did not see his bank statement.
The witness, who is the 21st called by the prosecution, said: “The account holder is liable for all the transactions in the account.”
The lawyer was referring to the terms of contract stating the account holder is required to report any dubious transactions in their account.
She also testified that fugitive Jho Low (Low Taek Jho) does not have an account with AmBank Raja Chulan and that her predecessor — a person named Jayakumar — had told her when she started work on July 1, 2015, that there would be issues with some of the accounts there.
Five days after she was appointed (July 6, 2015) as the branch manager, the bank was raided by Bank Negara Malaysia and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.
Earlier during examination-in-chief by deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Datuk Suhaimi Ibrahim and appointed prosecutor Datuk V Sithambaram, the witness said to her knowledge Najib did not complain about the transactions in the five accounts, including those where he allegedly received huge sums of money and issued cheques for payment at the critical periods when the transactions were made.
Uma Devi, 40, said customers are given the statement of accounts every month, and they are given 14 days to make complaints if there are any disputes.
“There was no notification by Najib that there were discrepancies, or unauthorised transactions in the statements issued. There are no complaints made by Najib over how the three [of the five] accounts are managed,” she said to questions from Sithambaram.
Since Wednesday, this witness has testified about money going in and out of accounts belonging to SRC International Sdn Bhd, Gandingan Mentari Sdn Bhd and Najib, and also the payments made by the former premier.
The former premier is facing three counts of money laundering involving RM27 million, RM5 million and RM10 million which he allegedly received from Dec 26, 2014 to Feb 10, 2015.
Funds came from Ihsan Perdana
Najib is also facing three counts of CBT and also one for abuse of power involving the total amount of RM42 million.
Uma Devi testified to questions from Suhaimi that the RM27 million which was credited into Najib’s account came from Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd and the other RM5 million also came from Ihsan Perdana. The date of the transactions was Dec 26, 2014 as per the charge sheet.
She also told the court that RM10 million was credited to Najib’s account on Feb 10, 2015. This also corresponds to the RM10 million money laundering charge.
The 21st prosecution witness had so far shown that the money had entered into the accounts and that Najib had issued cheques for 15 transactions (see Table 1 and Table 2).
Some of the recipients of the 15 cheques have testified in court last week and earlier this week about receiving payments from Najib’s account for work done.
Uma Devi was also shown the four mandate letters that Najib gave to SRC director and former chief executive officer Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil as well as another letter from Nik Faisal acknowledging the mandate letters.
The witness further told the court that when Najib closed three of his accounts with AmBank, the balance of RM103,361.17 was deposited into Ihsan Perdana’s account.
Undertaking in opening account
Uma Devi also testified, in response to a question from DPP Suhaimi that the former premier received RM3.5 million in his account on Feb 11, 2015, and that on the same day, the former premier issued a cheque from that account to pay Hafarizam Wan & Aisha Mubarak (Table 2).
Datuk Wira Mohd Hafarizam Harun is a partner in that firm. He is one of Najib’s lawyers who acted for him in civil cases, and he is also charged with money laundering for receiving that amount from Najib.
Uma Devi further explained that anyone opening an account has to acknowledge and agree to the terms set by the bank.
Sithambaram read the acknowledgment in the opening of the account that states:
“I/We agree that our application for products and services provided by AmBank Bhd, and AmBank Islamic Bhd is governed by general terms of the government Acts and services, and specific terms and conditions if applicable.
“I/We agree to adhere to the general terms and conditions for accounts and services and specific terms and conditions if applicable.
“I/We hereby acknowledge that I/we voluntary open the account, and will be responsible for all transactions conducted under the account and will scrutinise and verify transactions under the account.
“I/We shall be liable for all transactions through the account which are in violation of the law.”
Uma Devi agreed to the disclosure made in the opening of the accounts in AmBank and verified Najib’s signature in opening the accounts there.
The hearing continues today before Justice Mohd Nazlan Mod Ghazali with Najib’s application to strike out the seven charges.