KUALA LUMPUR: Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was unable to answer questions at the High Court relating to the millions of ringgit that landed into his personal AmBank account.
“Can we deal with it later?” he said to lawyer Datuk Lim Chee Wee here on Friday.
Lim, who is representing SRC International Sdn Bhd in the lawsuit over a US$1.18bil claim against Najib and former chief executive officer Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, had earlier asked Najib about the origins of the funds in his account and whether there was documentary evidence that the funds were not from SRC International or the Retirement Funds Inc (KWAP).
Lim: RM27mil was credited into your account ending in -880, do you have documentary evidence to show that this RM27mil is not from SRC International or KWAP?
Najib: Can we deal with that later?
On Thursday, Najib was also unable to answer whether there was documentary evidence on the source of US$70mil that was credited on Jan 3, 2012, into his personal bank account ending in -694.
“Can I come back to that?” he had said then.
Najib also told the court that he was not responsible for the micro-management of SRC’s funds as those responsibilities lay with the company’s board of directors (BOD) and management.
The former Pekan MP reiterated that during his chairmanship on the board of advisors of SRC, he trusted the BOD to handle the company’s affairs as it consisted of highly qualified individuals.
“The company’s board and management are the main organs of the company, so when I decided to manage SRC from a macro point of view, I wanted SRC to succeed in their goal of finding alternative energy for the country,” said Najib during cross-examination conducted by Lim.
Lim: But you had the ability to instruct independent verification of the funds.
Najib: I left it to the BOD because I believe it is their responsibility. I can’t micromanage the company, no PM in the world would because that is the work of technocrats, not politicians.
Under the new management, SRC filed the legal action in May 2021, alleging that Najib had committed breach of trust, abuse of power, misappropriated the company’s funds and personally benefited from it.
It named Najib along with its former directors Datuk Suboh Md Yassin, Mohammed Azhar Osman Khairuddin, Nik Faisal, Datuk Che Abdullah @ Rashidi Che Omar, Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi and Tan Sri Ismee Ismail in May 2021.
However, later, it removed six names from the suit and retained Najib and Nik Faisal as the first and second defendants.
Additionally, Najib has brought the former named SRC International directors as third-party respondents in the suit.
The company is seeking damages, interests, costs and a court declaration that Najib is responsible for the company’s losses due to his breach of duties and trust, and is demanding that Najib pay back the US$1.18bil in losses that it has suffered.
It is also seeking US$120mil and US$2mil from Najib and Nik Faisal respectively, on account of fraudulent breach of fiduciary duties and breach of trust.
The trial before Justice Ahmad Fairuz Zainol Abidin continues on Oct 9.
