Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 5): Datuk Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin admitted he had neither verified instructions from the “unofficial adviser” of his then-boss Datuk Seri Najib Razak to open a bank account with BSI to store election funds in Singapore, nor sought Bank Negara Malaysia's (BNM) permission to do so.

Amhari, who had worked with BNM for seven years and received a scholarship from the central bank, said he was not familiar with the Banking and Financial Institution Act 1989 (Bafia) or the Financial Services Act and the Islamic Financial Services Act 2013.

He agreed with Najib's lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah that he did not seek BNM's permission to open a foreign bank account.

“I was instructed by Low Taek Jho and followed (Najib's principal private secretary) the late Datuk Seri Azlin Alias on the matter.

“We (Azlin and I) went to Singapore together and followed the orders given by Low. At that time, I was under Azlin and what he does, I follow,” he said.

He concurred with Shafee’s description that it was as if “the mountain had come to Muhammad”, because Azlin and him were given special treatment, with the banker even coming to their hotel to open the account.

When pressed, Amhari admitted he did not ask Najib's permission to open the bank account.

“It is not clear to me that I needed the blessings (from Najib), as he is the Minister of Finance, and he would be well-versed (in the procedures). By he, I mean Datuk Seri Najib and also Azlin, who are well aware of the necessity of what is needed to open the accounts,” he said.

Shafee: So you did not inform Najib?

Amhari: I didn't inform Najib.

Shafee: How would he (Najib) advise you, as you did not tell him?

Amhari: I think (the opening of the bank account) got the blessing of Najib, as Jho Low agrees.

Shafee: So you believe the representation by Jho Low?

Amhari: Yes.

Shafee: Datuk Seri Najib says he did not know you have accounts in Singapore?

Amhari: I do not know.

Shafee: So Jho Low asked you and you believed wholeheartedly?

Amhari: I never did that but I followed Datuk Azlin as I was working under him.

The witness agrees that when the BSI bank account was opened, he was unsure whether it was a personal or company account.

However, Amhari agrees with Shafee's suggestion that a shell company named Aerosphere Ltd was placed under him as the owner of the company, as stated in bank documents. 

Money was for elections

When asked about the purpose of the US$800,000 deposited into the account, and the witness maintained that it was in anticipation of the 13th general elections in May 2013.

Amhari disagreed with Shafee's statement that US$800,000 was mere “peanuts” for election purposes.

The lawyer suggested that Jho Low’s request to open a foreign bank account with that amount was odd, considering Najib had a few hundred million US dollars deposited into his AmBank account back home for political purposes.

Shafee: Has it crossed your mind that Jho Low was talking rubbish? Did it not occur to you that this is strange, as Najib opened the AmBank accounts?

Amhari: No… Because I don’t know how political funding works, and I was following orders.

The witness further added that he was not suspicious of Jho Low's orders, as the businessman was close to Najib.

Opening an account in Thailand

Amhari also said he was asked by Jho Low to open an account in China sometime in 2015, but this did not materialise and hence, he was asked to open a bank account in Thailand.

The witness said he opened the account at the Kasikorn Bank, while being accompanied by a Thai man whose name he has forgotten.

“I put in 5,000 to 10,000 baht (into the account),” the 43-year-old witness said.

He added that he tried to transfer the amount from BSI bank to Kasikorn Bank, but was not allowed to do so.

Amhari said a female BSI official informed him that the account had been temporarily blocked.

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