Najib: US$120mil not from personal income, SRC International or KWAP
KUALA LUMPUR: The US$120mil credited into Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s personal account via three transactions was neither his personal income nor did it come from SRC International Sdn Bhd or Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP), the High Court heard.
The 71-year-old former prime minister, as the first defendant, said this when queried by SRC International’s lawyer Datuk Lim Chee Wee, at SRC International’s US$1.18bil civil suit against him and SRC former chief executive officer Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, who is currently at large.
Lim: Datuk Seri, let’s calculate your annual salary at its highest, let’s say RM1mil... but US$120mil was credited into your personal account. That (US$120mil) was not your personal source of income, right?
Najib: I never said it was.
Lim: I have to ask you because you never addressed it before this court.
Najib said based on the documents studied and analysed by his defence team, it was concluded that the US$120mil was not from SRC International or KWAP.
However, Najib said he would leave the matter to his lawyers to submit as the money flow was complex, according to a Bernama report.To the question whether he had instructed police, Bank Negara Malaysia or the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to investigate SRC International’s account frozen by the Swiss authorities, Najib replied, “No instruction on the particular account, but I had told the company’s management to bring back the money”.
To another question whether he had asked the authorities to provide the report (on the investigation linked to the frozen account), Najib said, “I expected them to give it to me as it was important to them to give it.”
In May 2021, under new management, SRC filed the lawsuit in which it accused Najib of breach of trust, abuse of power as well as personally benefiting from the company’s funds and misappropriating the said funds.
SRC International previously removed five of its directors from the lawsuit, retaining Najib as the sole defendant. However, the High Court permitted Najib to issue third-party notices against them.
The company is seeking a court declaration holding Najib accountable for the company’s losses due to his alleged breach of duties and trust and for him to compensate the RM42mil in losses they have incurred.
The trial before Justice Ahmad Fairuz Zainol Abidin continues today.
