This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on July 15, 2019 - July 21, 2019
42 DATUK Suboh Yassin, 68
Former director of SRC Suboh agreed with the prosecution that despite questions or doubts about his signature for the transfer of funds from SRC and its subsidiary Gandingan Mentari Sdn Bhd, the hundreds of millions of ringgit that were transferred out of the companies’ bank accounts did not enter his account, nor that of former SRC managing director and CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil.
43 Datuk Maliami Hamad, 65
Former Ministry of Finance secretary Maliami said he was pressured to prepare a memorandum for SRC for a Cabinet meeting, in support of its application for a government guarantee (GG) in relation to the company’s first RM2 billion loan from Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP).
He and his subordinate Afidah Azwa Abdul Aziz were given only a day — Aug 15, 2011 — to prepare the memorandum, for approval by his superiors as well as the then Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop.
The usual practice was for the details of the memorandum to be prepared by the company seeking the GG and not the ministry, which is tasked with assessing the proposal.
In addition, he said it was the first time in his seven years at the ministry that he had to ask for a loan to be disbursed before a GG was issued. This was in relation to KWAP’s second RM2 billion loan to SRC.
44 Datuk Mat Noor Nawi, 64
Former Treasury deputy secretary-general Mat Noor said SRC had written directly to the then prime minister and finance minister — Datuk Seri Najib Razak — to transfer its ownership from 1MDB to MoF Inc. Najib then wrote on a draft letter written by Mat Noor, indicating his support for the approval. Mat Noor had taken the draft to Najib at the Royal Malaysian Air Force (TUDM) Subang Airport.
He also told the court that the minister of finance is responsible for MoF Inc, based on the Ministry of Finance (Incorporation) Act 1975 (Act 375). The clarification was to refute the defence’s suggestion that the person responsible for MoF Inc was the minister of finance II, who at the time was Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah.
Mat Noor also revealed that he received a letter, signed by Najib, appointing him as an adviser to SRC, although the letter did not specifically outline his role in the company.
45 Tan Sri Dr Wan Abdul Aziz Wan Abdullah, 67
Former Treasury secretary-general testified that following SRC’s request for a RM3.95 billion loan from KWAP in 2011, KWAP decided to approve only RM1 billion and when Wan Abdul Aziz informed Najib of the decision, the former PM countered that RM2 billion would be a sufficient amount.
Subsequently, in March 2012, Najib directly instructed Wan Abdul Aziz to expedite the approval process for the second RM2 billion loan, even though the government guarantee had not been formalised.
46 Shuzairizman Shuib, 40
Bank Negara Malaysia Financial Intelligence Enforcement Department analyst Shuzairizman denied he had leaked BBM messages or text messages on the exchange of messages between AmBank relationship manager Joanna Yu and Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low. Shuzairizman said although he extracted the messages from Yu’s phone and those of two other AmBank relationship managers, Krystale Yap and Daniel Lee, he had not leaked them to anyone.
“I only gave it [the data] to Bank Negara and the MACC [Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission],” he said.
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