Former Malaysia PM Najib's RM42m SRC trial: Days 18 to 29 catch-up

• Published date: 01 July 2019
• Publication title: Malay Mail Online

As we enter Day 30 of Datuk Seri Najib Razak's criminal trial today after a week's break, have you lost track of all the goings-on in court or are just simply overwhelmed by the overload of information?

If you answered yes to both, Malay Mail is here with a condensed summary of what has taken place so far.

In case you missed our first recap on what took place from Days 1 to 17, fret not as you can just go here.

Now that you are prepared, let's proceed with this simplified recap and highlights of what the prosecution witnesses (PW) and multiple documents revealed from Day 18 until Day 29 of the trial:

How some of SRC International's RM4 billion funds were funnelled into Najib's account

In brief, SRC International was initially owned by controversial state investment firm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) before it was put under the sole ownership of the Finance Ministry's Minister of Finance (MoF) Inc.

After SRC International obtained loans totalling RM4 billion (in two separate tranches of RM2 billion each) from the Retirement Fund Incorporated (KWAP) in August 2011 and February 2012, some RM42 million made its way into Najib's accounts according to bank documents shown in court previously.

To be exact, a total of RM85 million flowed out from SRC International's AmIslamic Bank account-650 (where the second RM2 billion loan was transferred from KWAP) a few years later to SRC International's subsidiary Gandingan Mentari Sdn Bhd's AmIslamic Bank account.

Bank documents also showed Gandingan Mentari transferred a total of RM50 million to SRC International's purported corporate social responsibility partner Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd's (IPSB) Affin Bank account.

PW36 Aishah Ghazali, who was Ihsan Perdana senior account executive, testified that three fund transfers totalling RM42 million from IPSB into Najib's personal bank accounts between December 2014 and February 2015 were recorded as 'funds for CSR programmes.'

The cash was transferred in three tranches of RM27 million and RM5 million on December 26, 2014 and RM10 million on February 10, 2015 into two AmPrivate Banking-MY accounts belonging to Najib (2112022011-880 and 2112022011-906).

According to Aishah, these transfers were authorised by her former boss and PW37 Datuk Dr Shamsul Anwar Sulaiman who was managing director of IPSB.

Dr Shamsul in confirming the fund transfers to the accounts that he had not known then belonged to Najib, said he was instructed to do so by Yayasan Rakyat 1Malaysia (YR1M) officials after...