KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 14): Former AmBank relationship manager Joanna Yu said at the 1Malaysia Development Bhd-Tanore (1MDB-Tanore) trial that she was “shocked” that former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had been interested in opening private bank accounts at AmBank.

Testifying as the 41st prosecution witness in the trial on Wednesday (Dec 14), Yu was answering questions from defence lawyer Tan Sri Shafee Abdullah, who had asked her about the opening of Najib’s AmPrivate Islamic accounts with the bank.

She said that fugitive financier Low Taek Jho or Jho Low, whom she had known from his other dealings with the bank, had told her about opening these accounts for Najib.

She then said that she was “shocked” to hear that someone of Najib’s stature would want to open accounts with AmBank, as usually, prime ministers would choose banks such as CIMB Bank or Maybank.

Shafee: Who suggested that Najib open an account at AmBank?

Yu: I was told by Jho Low that Najib wanted to open an account. I was a bit shocked that he (Najib) being the prime minister wanted to open the account with AmBank.

Shafee: Was your bank so low that you didn’t expect this? 

Yu: No but I don’t recall in my dealings, [politicians] would usually go to CIMB or Maybank.

Yu further clarified that based on the obvious choices like Maybank and CIMB, she did not expect a prime minister to bank with AmBank.

Shafee: So who suggested to the PM [to open accounts with AmBank]?

Yu: I don’t know. I was just informed by Jho Low that Najib wanted to open an account with the bank.

Shafee: It could have been that Jho Low suggested [your bank] because he was familiar with AmBank.

Yu: It could have been.

Yu previously said that she had known Jho Low when the bank gave loans to a company called Majestic Masterpiece Sdn Bhd, which was connected to Jho Low.

Recalling another incident, Yu said that on one occasion, AmBank had sent a bank statement to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). Jho Low then warned her that bank statements are to be strictly sent to former 1MDB chief investment officer Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, Najib’s mandate holder for the accounts.

Yu said she wasn’t sure how the statement was sent to the PMO. The statement was for one of the credit cards associated with the accounts.

“It didn’t go out from us. I don’t know,” she said.

She agreed with Shafee’s suggestion that there was a call subsequently from Jho Low, who spoke to her in a “telling off fashion” regarding the matter.

Yu added that there were instances wherein statements were accumulated and then passed to Nik Faisal when she saw him next.

Shafee also asked the witness about codenames that were assigned to Najib’s accounts. Among them were AmPrivate Banking-MR (account ending 694), AmPrivate Banking-1MY (account ending 880), AmPrivate Banking-1MY (account ending 898), and AmPrivate Banking-MY (account ending 906).

Shafee asked Yu how this came to be, and she replied that Jho Low had reiterated that these accounts were to be treated with the strictest confidence.

Yu said Jho Low mentioned that the accounts and related transactions were to be “private and confidential” and asked if there could be a private account number assigned to them.

She said she found out and that codenames could be introduced for accounts. She said that when the codenames were assigned, there was a letter prepared to inform the central bank.

Yu however confirmed that she did not personally call Najib to find out if he had indeed asked for the codenames to be given to his accounts.

Shafee: Did Datuk Seri Najib ever tell the bank as an instruction, I don’t want funds to come in under my name, put it under a pseudo name?

Yu: No.

Shafee: The way you are describing is as though the bank thinks the money is not kosher.

Yu: We were told that there is a lot of international scrutiny [...] so can it be sent to an account number for the PM.

Yu, under further questioning from Shafee, said she accepted Jho Low’s request for the codenames to be true and believed he was representing Najib at that time.

Shafee: And you took it that Jho Low was representing the truth?

Yu: Yes, that he was representing Najib.

Shafee reiterated the question of whether Yu assumed that Jho Low was representing the truth.

“Yes, I didn’t check,” Yu said.

Najib, 69, is on trial on four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering, involving RM2.28 billion of 1MDB funds.

The funds had flowed many channels and ended up in Najib’s AmBank accounts, which were handled by Jho Low and Nik Faisal.

In another case previously, Najib was found guilty of abuse of power in relation to a RM4 billion loan given by Retirement Fund (Inc) (KWAP) to 1MDB’s former subsidiary SRC International Sdn Bhd between August 2011 and March 2012.

The trial before High Court judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues on Thursday (Dec 15), with Yu still on the stand.

The Edge is covering the trial live here.

Users of The Edge Markets app may tap here to access the live report.