Azam Ordered Me To Continue Rm2 6bil Donation Probe Macc Man Tells Court

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Najib Razak is standing trial on 25 charges of abuse of power and money laundering over funds amounting to RM2.28 billion deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014. (Bernama pic)
PUTRAJAYA: A Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission investigating officer told the High Court here today he was instructed to continue an investigation into a RM2.6 billion “donation” Najib Razak received, despite a meeting with the Saudi “donor”.
Fikri Ab Rahim said his then superior, Azam Baki, who was the deputy MACC chief at the time, told him that information gathered during their visit to a palace in Saudi Arabia was “insufficient”.
“Azam told me that we needed solid evidence. I thought the information was sufficient, based on what we gathered from Prince Saud (Abdulaziz Al-Saud) and the lawyer (Mohamad Abdullah Al Koman),” he said.
Fikri Ab Rahim.Fikri told the court he and his colleagues, Nasharudin Amir and Hafaz Nazar, along with Azam and former deputy public prosecutor Dzulkifli Ahmad went to Saudi Arabia to meet “Saud” at the end of 2015.
The team was there to investigate four purported “donation letters” that were said to have been signed and sent by Saud to Najib, dated between Feb 1, 2011 and June 1, 2014.
He said Hafaz only took a statement from (Saudi lawyer) Abdullah, but not Saud.
“We looked at his (Saud’s) passport to verify his identity but were told we could not make photocopies because he enjoyed a certain immunity.
“We could not question him (Saud) directly. We only spoke to him through his representative (Abdullah),” he said, adding that it was Abdullah who signed off on the statement.
Fikri said Eric Tan, an aide to Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, was also present at the palace. Tan is wanted by the authorities as part of their investigations into 1MDB.
“Tan’s lawyer told us (MACC officers) that he was ready to give his statement. He wanted his lawyer with him all the time,” he said.
He named Selva Mookiah as the lawyer they spoke to on the matter.
Copy and paste exercise?
Under cross-examination by deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib, Fikri admitted that forensics analysis was necessary to verify the authenticity of Saud’s passport.
The prosecution also questioned how he was able to take Abdullah’s statement in only 20 minutes.
“You can agree with me or otherwise – it would have been impossible for you to complete (recording) Abdullah’s statement within 20 minutes because it contains great detail of bank transactions, and it is impossible for him to remember everything within such a short period,” Akram said.
“(Abdullah) already gave you and Hafaz a draft and all you needed to do was just copy and paste the contents.”
Fikri disagreed, attributing the speed at which the statement was taken to Hafaz’s efficiency.
He also denied the prosecution’s contention that he “improvised” his evidence today, having regard to his testimony during Najib’s earlier SRC International case.
Akram: Were you provided with documentation from the Saudi (donor) for investigation purposes?
Fikri: There were no documents from them.
Najib is standing trial on 25 charges of abuse of power and money laundering over funds amounting to RM2.28 billion which were deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.
The hearing before Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues on Feb 18. - FMT

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