KUALA LUMPUR: SRC International Sdn Bhd was intended to serve the rakyat but in reality, it was used to benefit Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, the High Court here heard.
Lawyer Datuk Lim Chee Wee, representing the company, submitted that instead of fulfilling its intended public purpose, SRC International became both a vehicle and a victim of large-scale fraud, with the former prime minister as its primary beneficiary.
He was submitting on Monday (July 7) during the hearing of SRC International’s US$1.18bil civil suit against Najib and former SRC chief executive officer Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, who is currently at large.
"The very funds misappropriated through SRC were pensioners’ money from the Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP).
"While SRC International suffered a devastating loss of US$1.18bil, the first defendant (Najib) personally received US$120mil into his own accounts and RM42mil, which is the subject of a separate suit.
"He also utilised his role as the shadow director of the company, where he controlled the company’s board via shareholder resolutions on important macro-decisions that ought to have been made by the SRC board itself,” he added.
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Lim also said that, as the shadow director of the company, Najib signed shareholder resolutions to approve and obtain a RM4bil KWAP loan and to disburse RM3.6bil from that loan for illegitimate purposes.
"This culminated in Najib being the ultimate mastermind behind the catastrophic loss of US$1.18bil,” he said this before Justice Datuk Ahmad Fairuz Zainol Abidin.
The hearing continues on Tuesday (July 8).
In May 2021, SRC, under its new management, filed the suit, claiming that Najib had committed a breach of trust and power abuse, personally benefitted from the company’s funds, and misappropriated the said funds.
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It also seeks a court declaration that Najib is responsible for the company's losses due to his breach of duties and trust, and for Najib to pay back the RM42mil in losses that it suffered.
Najib is currently serving a jail term in Kajang Prison for the misappropriation of RM42mil from SRC International.
On Sept 2, 2022, he filed a petition for a royal pardon, which led to the Pardons Board halving his jail term from 12 to six years and reducing the fine from RM210mil to RM50mil on Jan 29 last year. – Bernama
