This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on August 12, 2019 - August 18, 2019

OVER 51 days of the SRC trial, the defence has suggested that fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho orchestrated a conspiracy to manipulate Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s AmBank accounts from 2013 to 2015 and that the former prime minister was in the dark about the shenanigans.

However, the prosecution contends that Najib was in cahoots with Low and used ill-gotten monies from the accounts, and, in fact, knew the RM42 million deposited in his accounts was from state-owned SRC International Sdn Bhd.

Najib’s lawyer, Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, raised the possibility that Low had the biggest say over Najib’s accounts and lied to many about the origins of the funds.

Former AmBank relationship manager Joanna Yu Ging Ping had said Low represented some of the funds as donations and provided supporting letters.

Shafee also pointed out that Low had instructed AmBank, through Yu, not to deliver account statements to Najib’s home or the Prime Minister’s Office in order to keep the accounts’ real dealings and balance a secret from Najib.

Certain procedures were not adhered to, the defence pointed out.

Shafee argued that Low and SRC CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil — who was the mandate holder for Najib’s accounts — used Najib’s scanned signature to facilitate bank transfers without Najib ever seeing some of the instruction letters.

The cross-examination on Yu took eight days, the most so far.

But the re-examination of Yu took less than an hour.

The prosecution’s argument to debunk the defence’s claim was simple — that on all the above occasions, despite claims of manipulation of his accounts, Najib had not raised even one complaint through the respective channels or filed a report claiming any irregularity in his accounts.

It was also pointed out that neither Low, Nik Faisal, Yu or others in the relationship management team received money from those accounts.

“Has [Najib] ever queried the bank how he had only received RM212 million from the Arabs, [Black Rock] and Vista Equity, but spent RM606 million? Did he ask ‘where is this money coming from, I keep writing all these cheques’?” prosecution lawyer Datuk V Sithambaram asked Yu at one point.

Sithambaram also brought in witness Ranjit Singh, who represented former MCA president Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik in a defamation suit filed by Najib against the former transport minister.

Ranjit referred to Najib’s affidavit dated Feb 23, 2016, in the Ling case, where Najib said he received a US$700 million donation. Najib also conceded that RM42 million had gone into his accounts from SRC, but claimed no prior knowledge of it.

Prosecution witnesses who dealt with Najib directly — former minister of finance II Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah, former SRC chairman Tan Sri Ismee Ismail, among others — also emphasised that Najib — then also finance minister — had the final say in the government’s treatment of SRC.

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