Najib Muttered My God When Told Of Rm42m Transfer Witness

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1MDB TRIAL | Najib Abdul Razak muttered “my God” when informed in 2015 about the inflow of RM42 million into the former prime minister’s Malaysian bank account, according to a defence witness.
1MDB’s former director of corporate social responsibility (CSR) Shamsul Anwar Sulaiman told the High Court in Putrajaya today about the accused’s reaction when the defence witness told the accused what happened in July that year.
During today’s RM2.27 billion 1MDB abuse of power and money laundering trial against Najib, Shamsul recalled that he received a telephone call from Najib asking whether it was true that the witness had transferred RM42 million in three tranches between late 2014 and early 2015.
Shamsul explained that he was in London when he received the telephone call from Najib, explaining that he had gone to the United Kingdom capital from Antwerp, Belgium, in order to clear his mind after finding out about a Wall Street Journal article about the RM42 million.
He said he had earlier received a call from his secretary that his office in Malaysia had been raided by MACC.
Shamsul told trial judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah that he told Najib then that he indeed had made the transfer but that he was unaware of the identity of the account the transfer was made into, namely AmPrivate Banking-MY.
“Najib then asked me why I had transferred the funds into that particular account. I told him I was following instructions from Ung Su Ling and Dennis See (who were then CEO and project directors of Yayasan Rakyat 1Malaysia (YR1M), respectively), as it was standard practice for me to process payments based on their directions for CSR programmes.
“Given their roles within YR1M, I had believed that these payments were intended for CSR purposes.
“From his reaction over the phone, it appeared to me that Najib was taken aback, as I distinctly heard him mutter under his breath ‘my God’,” Shamsul testified.
It should be noted that a separate criminal court in 2020 convicted Najib of a corruption case linked to the RM42 million, and since the dismissal of his appeal in 2022, he has been serving a six-year jail sentence and fined RM50 million.
Fighting off graft case
Shamsul’s testimony today is to help Najib fight off the RM2.27 billion 1MDB graft case.
Incidentally, Shamsul had also testified in the SRC trial, where he claimed Najib was shocked upon finding out that the RM42 million went into his account.
Ex-1MDB CSR director Shamsul Anwar SulaimanDuring the 1MDB trial today, Shamsul said he followed Ung and See’s instructions as they were the funders of Ihsan Perdana, which the defence witness headed then.
Shamsul explained that Ihsan Perdana was set up to do CSR activities for 1MDB and that it was set up as a separate company rather than a subsidiary of the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund to avoid a conflict of interest.
Shamsul recalled that See explained that the Ihsan Perdana account would be used to temporarily hold a sum for transit purposes before being transferred.
The witness said he assumed that the money would be used for CSR purposes.
Shamsul claimed that Ung did not disclose the source of the RM42 million in spite of multiple telephone calls and in-person meetings.
He claimed that upon returning to Malaysia in July 2015, he was detained by MACC for four nights and five days, whereby the anti-graft officers allegedly tried to get him to provide a statement to implicate Najib falsely over the RM42 million.
Shamsul, however, stressed that he refused to do so.
‘Najib was upset’
During examination-in-chief by lead defence counsel Shafee Abdullah, Shamsul testified that after his release from MACC remand, he had then met Najib at the ex-premier’s house at Langgak Duta, Kuala Lumpur.
Shamsul explained that among the conversation he and Najib had was over what transpired during the MACC remand, which occurred three days after Hari Raya when the witness’ wife and children were not around.
“Najib asked me if they did any harm to me and I told him that MACC did not harm me, they treated me well except for the pressure from the over and over again questioning and suggestion that I was abetting the offence.
“Also, I told him what I discovered from the interrogation that the account belonged to him. Najib was shocked.
“He said he does not know who is putting money into his account and why through Ihsan Perdana. From what I observed, he was upset,” Shamsul testified over the 74-year-old’s reaction.
‘I wasn't involved in fabricating Arab letter’
During today’s trial, Shamsul rubbished former 1MDB general counsel Jasmine Loo’s testimony that he was with Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) and the fugitive businessperson's associate Kee Kok Thiam to discuss preparing an Arab donation letter in Mayfair Hotel, London, in early 2015.
The defence witness said he was not even in the United Kingdom capital at the time or even at the hotel then.
Shamsul said he never was in any meeting with Loo, Low, Kee or See at the London hotel, let alone participated in any discussion regarding money in Najib’s account or preparing a donation letter from one Saudi Prince Saud.
“I was never involved in any such conversation in relation to drafting or procuring letters concerning donations from Saudi Arabia.
“Loo’s assertion that I was present and engaged in such discussions is entirely false and a fabrication of testimony, perhaps to meet a mischievous agenda,” Shamsul said, adding that he did not even know Kee.
Shamsul added that he only knew Low from having previously seen from afar the businessperson dealing with members of 1MDB’s management.
Fugitive businessperson Low Taek JhoShamsul claimed that when he was in London around the time of Najib’s call, Low had tried to arrange a meeting with the witness.
Shamsul mused that perhaps Low wanted to meet him due to both their names being mentioned in the Wall Street Journal report, but that at the end of the day, the meeting did not transpire.
The trial resumes tomorrow morning.
26 days on witness stand
On Oct 30 last year, the High Court ordered Najib to enter his defence over four abuses of power and 21 money laundering charges involving RM2.27 billion from 1MDB.
Sequerah ruled that the prosecution had succeeded in establishing a prima facie (answerable) case against Najib due to the strength of some 50 witness testimonies.
Between early December last year and late January this year, Najib spent 26 days on the witness stand trying to raise reasonable doubt in the prosecution’s case.
The accused contended that he had neither knowledge nor involvement in wrongdoing at 1MDB and that embezzlement there was solely masterminded by Low and members of the fund’s management.
The former Pekan MP also relied on the defence that he was promised a donation by the late Saudi monarch King Abdullah during a meeting between them in Riyadh in 2010.
The accused has been serving a six-year jail sentence since August 2022 over a separate graft case involving RM42 million from SRC International, a former subsidiary of 1MDB.
Deputy public prosecutor Kamal Baharin Omar and Ahmad Akram Gharib prosecuted. - Mkini

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