This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on December 10, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR: Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak spent RM466,330.11 of the sum in his AmBank account — allegedly funds from SRC International Sdn Bhd — on a Chanel watch as a birthday present for his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.

The luxury watch was bought in Honolulu, Hawaii, the US in December 2014, using the former premier’s Visa Platinum credit card linked to his AmBank account ending 880.

This was the same personal holiday trip where Najib reportedly played a round of golf with then US president Barack Obama.

It was this account that part of the RM42 million originating from SRC was allegedly transferred into.

Najib confirmed the transaction yesterday, based on the credit card statement produced in court, during his examination-in-chief by defence counsel Rahmat Hazlan.

Besides the Chanel watch for Rosmah, Najib also admitted that a Mastercard Platinum credit card was used to pay RM127,017.46 for expenses in Shangri-La Hotel in Bangkok in January 2015.

Najib said this was during his personal holiday trip to Bangkok, where he also met his Thai counterpart General Prayut Chan-o-cha to discuss how the Thai government could help in dealing with floods that Malaysia faced in that year.

“It is my right to claim back the expenses from the government as I was working during my vacation. However, I chose to bear all the expenses on my own since I didn’t want to complicate the matter and acted on my discretion,” he said.

He clarified the hotel bill includes accommodation for himself and his support staff accompanying him, as well as unexpected spending for the trip.

Most significantly, about RM3.28 million was spent using the credit cards in eight transactions at Swiss luxury jeweller De Grisogono in Sardinia, Italy.

Najib explained the money spent at De Grisogono was for gifts intended for then Qatar prime minister Sheikh Ahmed Jassim Al Thani whom he coincidentally met in Sardinia during his family trip.

Najib pointed out Malaysia has a good diplomatic and economic relationship with Qatar and that the former Qatari premier and his wife Noor Abdulaziz Abdulla Turki Al-Subaie regularly gave gifts to Rosmah during their official visits to Malaysia.

“On that basis, it would be unbecoming of us to return their favour with anything less than their position and generosity,” he said.

“I do not want to use public funds for the purchase of this gift and I think that since this account is available, it is only fair to use this account instead of public funds, in my sincere belief that the funds in this account were to be spent at my own discretion [for purposes that] will provide benefits to Malaysia,” Najib added.

He also pointed out expenses for personal matters from August 2013 to March 2015 only took up 0.4% of total funds received in the account.

The two cards, with a combined limit of RM3 million, were cancelled in April 2015.

Najib had previously claimed that he thought the US$800 million that went into the AmBank account ending 880 were donations from Saudi Arabia ruler King Abdullah Abdul Aziz Al-Saud as a sign of his support to the Malaysian government.

As such, Najib said it was his prerogative to spend the monies at his discretion, for the benefit of Malaysia.

The prosecution, however, argued that the RM42 million that ended up in Najib’s accounts, originated from Minister of Finance Inc-owned SRC.