KUALA LUMPUR: A letter said to be from the Saudi Arabia royal family stating that former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak received a cash gift of US$100mil as a recognition of his contribution to the Islamic world was presented at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.
The defence in Najib’s 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) RM2.3bil graft trial submitted the letter yesterday, bearing the letterhead of the private office of Saud Abdulaziz Majid Al Saud, a former governor of Madinah Province and a member of House of Saud.
The letter said the gift was in appreciation of Najib’s new ideas as a modern Islamic leader and also in view of the friendship the two had developed over the years.
Najib’s counsel Wan Aizuddin Wan Mohammed read out the letter, said to be signed by the prince on Feb 1, 2011.
He said the letter, among others, stated that the prince granted Najib US$100mil as a gift to be remitted into Najib’s account.
“Najib shall have absolute discretion to determine how the gift shall be used to promote Islam. The prince said he did not expect to receive any personal benefit as a result of the gift,” the lawyer said.
Wan Aizuddin was questioning the 37th prosecution witness, AmBank (M) Bhd Jalan Raja Chulan branch manager R. Uma Devi, about the letter during cross-examination.
He also referred to two documents regarding deposits amounting to RM60.6mil and RM30.2mil received by Najib between February and June 2011.
Wan Aizuddin: Would you agree that there is an irresistible conclusion that the US$100mil mentioned in the letter and these two transactions would be a personal gift?
Uma Devi: I cannot conclude because the amount differs and (I am) not sure if the letter was given to the bank prior to these transactions.
Wan Aizuddin: From the branch’s side, this letter has never been cited?
Uma Devi: Yes.
The 43-year-old also testified that nothing was done to stop the transfer of US$620mil out of Najib’s bank account in August 2013, as no red flag was triggered by the bank when the transactions took place.
She explained that there were several trigger points which the bank looked for, such as the amount of transfer, the purpose, and disclosure of information from the customer.
“A screening will be done based on these trigger points. The customer will not be informed (of red flag) as this would alert them,” she said, adding that the bank would conduct its investigations when a red flag was raised.
Later, another witness said RM2.23bil flowed into Najib’s personal from a prince and two entities linked to fugitive financier Low Taek Jho between 2011 and 2013.
AmBank Private Banking Capital Market Desk head Yap Wai Keat, 57, testified that the money, from Blackstone Asia Real Estate Partners, Tanore Finance Corp and Prince Faisal Bin Turkey Bandar Al Saud, was transferred into Najib’s account ending with the number 694.
The witness, who was reading his witness statement, said Prince Faisal wired a total of RM60,629,839.43 in two transactions in February and June in 2011.
Blackstone Asia Real Estate Partners and Tanore Finance Corp deposited nearly RM2.2bil into Najib’s account via 11 transactions in 2012 and 2013.
Yap said he became involved in Najib’s 694 account on the orders of Joanna Yu, who is Najib’s AmBank relationship manager, to assist in matters pertaining to foreign exchange.
“I’m involved in the quotations of foreign exchange rate for inwards or outwards remittances,” he said.
Information on incoming money was relayed to Yap and Yu, to enable her to inform the client (Najib) that there was money flowing into his account.
“Yu instructed me to execute the conversion of money from US dollar to ringgit after she obtained approval from the client.
“My department contacted the Remittance Division and informed them of the contract number and the exchange rate. With regard to this particular transaction, my department acted upon instructions by Yu after she had received instructions from the client,” he said.
Najib, 69, is facing four charges of using his position to obtain bribes totalling RM2.28bil from 1MDB funds and 21 charges of money laundering involving the same amount.
The hearing continues before Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah today.
