Almost Rm100 000 Charged To Najib S Credit Card At Luxury Italian Hotel Court Told

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Yeoh Eng Leong, a former Ambank vice-president, said charges equivalent to RM98,013.63 at the time were charged to Najib Razak’s Mastercard Platinum card at The Westin Excelsior in Rome. (Bernama pic)KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court in Najib Razak’s 1MDB trial heard that a sum of €22,421.62 was charged to the former prime minister’s credit card at an Italian luxury hotel in July 2011.
Yeoh Eng Leong, a former AmBank vice-president in charge of credit card authorisation and fraud management, said the expenses incurred – equivalent to RM98,013.63 at the time – were charged to the former prime minister’s Platinum Mastercard at The Westin Excelsior in Rome, Italy.
He added that Najib held that card and another Visa Platinum card with AmBank until they were terminated in March 2015.
Answering a question by deputy public prosecutor Deepa Nair Thevaharan, Yeoh told the court that the combined credit limit for both cards was RM3 million.
“I believe the (credit limit) was the highest given (by the bank),” he said.
Yeoh also told the court that a total of RM5,935 was charged to the Visa Platinum card at two high-end luxury stores at the Suria KLCC mall on Aug 21, 2011.
“On Aug 29, Datuk Seri Najib made a payment of RM98,013.63 (to) the Mastercard (account).
“The remaining RM3,744.32 was paid on Sept 28, 2011,” he said.
Under cross-examination by Najib’s lawyer Wan Aizuddin Wan Mohamed as to whether he knew for a fact that it was Najib who swiped the cards for the transactions in question, Yeoh said he was unable to confirm.
“There was no dispute on the transactions (by the cardholder). He would have disputed if he did not use (them),” he added.
Najib is standing trial for 25 charges of abuse of power and money laundering over alleged 1MDB funds amounting to RM2.28 billion deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.
Najib, who was taken to Kajang prison to serve his sentence over the SRC International corruption case last month, was present in court today.
The hearing before High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues. - FMT

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