KUALA LUMPUR: Any company director who disagrees with the direction of SRC International Sdn Bhd was free to leave the company, the High Court hears.
Datuk Seri Najib Razak said this happened with former 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) chairman Tan Sri Mohd Bakke Salleh, who resigned from the sovereign wealth fund in 2009 as a sign of protest.
“If you’re (one of the) board of directors and you do not agree with whatever the company decides or (what) you perceive as instructions from the government, then you are at liberty to resign from the company. I am assuming the worst situation,” he said.
It was reported that Mohd Bakke, who was a witness in the 1MDB graft trial, testified that he left 1MDB following his suspicion that something was amiss in the company’s operations.
Najib was on the stand during cross- examination by lawyer Datuk Dr Gurdial Singh Nijar, who is representing third-party respondent and former SRC director Datuk Suboh Md Yassin, at the hearing of a lawsuit brought by SRC against Najib and former CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil.
Gurdial was asking Najib about a transfer of RM2bil out of SRC and his expectation on how the directors should have acted upon the instruction, purportedly given the greenlight by Najib as the sole shareholder of SRC.
Najib said the investments must have been imminent for the transfer to take place.
Those who did not agree with the company, Najib said, could have resigned or met with him to express their protest.
“Look, I disagree with what you have us to do. There is a basis for the matter to be further discussed and decided.
“I, as the prime minister, would not do anything against the interests of the company as I have sworn (an oath) under the Constitution,” he said.
Under 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 Suboh, Mohammed Azhar Osman Khairuddin, Nik Faisal, Datuk Che Abdullah @ Rashidi Che Omar, Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi and Tan Sri Ismee Ismail in its suit.
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 SRC International directors named above 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 Thursday.
