This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on April 29, 2019 - May 5, 2019
FOR the week ended April 26, a total of 14 prosecution witnesses took the stand to testify in former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s SRC International Sdn Bhd trial. They comprised politicians, bankers, a contractor and a lawyer. Below is their evidence in court:
8 Daud Mohamed, 53, a contractor with Syadilah Enterprise, which is involved in the construction of two water towers at Najib’s house in Pekan, Pahang
Daud testified that in 2013 and 2014, he was called to construct two water towers. He also serviced the air conditioners in the house, carried out wiring, roof and kitchen repairs, and replaced some doorknobs.
Syadilah Enterprise received a cheque for RM77,300, issued from Najib’s AmIslamic account.
9 Datuk Asmadi Abu Talib, 50, a former teacher who took optional retirement after he was chosen as Barisan National candidate for the Merbau Pulas state seat in Padang Serai, Kedah, in the 14th general election (GE14)
As Padang Serai Umno division head, Asmadi, who is also known as Cikgu Madi, told the court that he met Najib to discuss the direction of GE14 and the latter gave a contribution in the form of a RM50,000 cheque, which Asmadi deposited and cashed it in his personal account.
He admitted that the amount was not recognised in Padang Serai Umno’s accounts, but all committee members knew about it. If the amount was entered into the division’s accounts, it had to be stated and could be questioned during an annual general meeting, Asmadi explained.
10 Abu Talib Alias, 55, Johor Baru Umno division secretary
He admitted that he had received a cheque dated Feb 12, 2015, for RM300,000 from Najib. However, he said the amount was insufficient as the division needed RM600,000 annually for its expenses.
“This had been the practice where the headquarters and, sometimes, the president would give funds to various divisions,” he added.
He also provoked chuckles during his testimony on April 22 when he referred to Najib using his famous nickname “Malu apa bossku? (What’s there to be ashamed of my boss?)”, when he was asked by the prosecution to identify the accused in court.
11 Abdul Munir Othman, 52, one of four trustees for Yayasan Tun Abdul Razak, which received RM400,000 from Najib on Feb 12, 2015
The cheque issued by Najib was addressed to Trustees of Rumah Penyayang Tun Abdul Razak, a welfare home in Pekan, Pahang.
Abdul Munir testified that Najib was one of the patrons of the home and the fund received was used for welfare purposes and not for personal interests.
12 Manisah Othman, 55, widow of Amirudin Mohd Baria, who was a liaison officer of Boustead Holdings Bhd attached to the Prime Minister’s Office
Amirudin died of colon cancer in 2013.
Manisah confirmed that she had received a cheque for RM13,800 from Najib in 2015 as the latter had promised to help fund the education of her two sons, aged 23 and 27, following the death of her husband.
Manisah, who works as a statistician at the Department of Statistics Malaysia, testified that she stopped receiving similar cheques after 2015 and that she assumed Najib did not know her children have yet to complete their studies.
She agreed that Najib also paid RM9,360 in 2013 and RM29,520 in 2014 through cheques.
13 Ahmad Sahak, 56, executive secretary for Penang Umno liaison committee
Ahmad Sahak testified that a RM1 million payment was made by Najib to the bank account of the Penang Umno liaison office. He said it was common practice for the state division to receive funds from the party president — in this case, Najib — and the party’s state arm required around RM1.5 million annually to run its programmes.
Ahmad Sahak said he had requested RM2 million that year. However, only RM1 million was received via a cheque dated Feb 26, 2015.
14 Rita Sim Sai Hoon, 59, co-founder of Centre for Strategic Engagement Sdn Bhd (CENSE), which was established in 2010
Sim testified that CENSE was paid RM150,000 a month to monitor and analyse the news content of six Chinese dailies.
She said the company received RM300,000 for services rendered in December 2014 and January 2015.
She disclosed that the instruction to conduct the monitoring service was given to them by the late Tan Sri Jamaluddin Jarjis, the former science, technology and innovation minister and second finance minister, who was killed along with five others in a helicopter crash on April 4, 2015.
15 Datuk Seri Marcus Mojigoh, 67, former United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko) treasurer-general
Marcus testified that in 2015, he received RM1 million on behalf of Upko from Najib for welfare programmes.
He said he received the cheque from bossku (Najib) in Najib’s office in Putrajaya, the amount of which was only half of what was requested.
16 Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi, 41, a shareholder of Vital Spire Sdn Bhd
Onn Hafiz disclosed that Vital Spire received a cheque for RM240,000 to run news portal malaysiandigest.com, as instructed by Najib in 2015.
He said the news portal covered international and local news, and was set up to disseminate news and combat “fake news”. However, it was shut down last July.
Onn Hafiz, who is a nephew of former Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and great-grandson of Umno founder Datuk Onn Jaafar, seemed nervous when he testified and avoided eye contact with Najib.
17 Datuk Wong Nai Chee, 50, former political secretary to Najib
Wong confirmed that in 2015, a cheque for RM238,914 was issued to the account of tycoon Tan Sri Lim Soon Peng to pay two media units, namely AD Network (the administrator for Najib’s Mandarin-language Facebook page “Ah Jib Gor”) and Taima Journalism and Information Academy (publisher of the Chinese Weekly print publication).
Wong, an MCA member, testified that the main purpose of the media units was to project government policies in the right manner to the Chinese community.
When asked why the payment was made through Lim and not directly to the two entities, Wong said, “We (the Prime Minister’s Office) did not want cheques from the [then] prime minister flying around.”
Lim, the founder of Titijaya Land Bhd, was occasionally given the role to “mobilise the grassroots”, particularly the Chinese community, said Wong, when explaining why the businessman was chosen for the payment.
18 Ashraf Abdul Razak, 48, lawyer who worked for Habibul Rahman Kadir Shah
Ashraf testified that he received a RM2.5 million cheque dated Feb 2, 2015, from Najib for an unspecified defence contract.
He said he never asked where the money came from because he had known Habibul, a corporate leader, for a long time.
Ashraf, who was also a partner at law firm Zulqarnain & Co from 1996 to 2017, has been working with Habibul for 12 years.
When asked by the prosecution why Habibul did not issue the cheque to be deposited into his own account, Ashraf said he did not know the reason. He added that he was asked to manage the RM2.5 million.
19 Edward Innasi, 58, deputy general manager of CIMB Bank’s Cheque Clearing Operations Department
Innasi testified that a cheque for RM2.5 million had been deposited into a bank account belonging to Zulqarnain & Co on Feb 2, 2015.
20 Rosaiah Mohamed Rosli, 53, processing officer at Affin Bank headquarters, Menara Affin Bank in Jalan Raja Chulan
Rosaiah told the court that Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd, which has an account with Affin Bank, received RM50 million from Gandingan Mentari Sdn Bhd.
She also confirmed that Ihsan Perdana received RM40 million from an AmBank account belonging to Gandingan Mentari on Dec 24, 2014.
She said the bank credited RM5 million into Ihsan Perdana’s account each day from Gandingan Mentari on Feb 5 and 6, 2015.
21 R Uma Devi, 39, AmBank’s Raja Chulan branch manager
Uma Devi testified that Najib had five AmBank accounts — four current and one savings — between 2011 and 2015. She said all account holders “are liable for all the transactions in their accounts” even if they did not see their bank statements.
Customers are provided with statements of accounts every month and are given 14 days to lodge complaints if there are any disputes, she added.
She confirmed that Najib signed a declaration to assume responsibility and liability for all transactions in the accounts with AmBank, which were opened under his name.
Uma Devi also confirmed that 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 payments at the critical periods when the transactions were made.
She took more than a day to testify about money going in and out of accounts belonging to SRC, Gandingan Mentari and Najib as well as payments made by the latter.
She confirmed that Ihsan Perdana credited RM27 million and RM5 million into two of Najib’s accounts on Dec 26, 2014, as per the charge sheet.
Uma Devi also showed that the money had entered into the accounts and that Najib had issued cheques for 15 transactions between Jan 30 and Aug 2, 2015.
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