Former BSI banker raised concerns on large funds into SRC BVI account

KUALA LUMPUR: A former BSI banker told the High Court Wednesday he was concerned that SRC International (Malaysia) Limited’s (SRC BVI) account at the bank had received US$864.5 million in a short amount of time, with suspicions that these transactions were fraudulent.

Former BSI Bank Head of Wealth Management Services, Kevin Micheal Swampillai, 64, said the SRC BVI account had received huge incoming funds between November 2011 and April 2012 from SRC International Sdn Bhd, adding that he had raised this concern to his superiors so that suspicious transaction reports (STR) can be filed.

“STR is the responsibility of the bank’s compliance department and the Client Acceptance Committee (CAC). CAC has the responsibility to monitor politically exposed clients account’s transactions and activities.

“I did raise my suspicion about these transactions to my supervisor, which was tendered as evidence in court (in another trial).

“I was concerned because we did not know where the money was going and had no visibility where they ended up, and my concerns were raised because the number of transactions undertaken by SRC was quite frequent, but no action was taken by the senior management of the bank,” he said.

Kevin said this under crossexamination by counsel Harvinderjit Singh representing Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in the SRC International Sdn Bhd’s US$1.18 billion (RM5.58 billion) lawsuit against the former prime minister before Justice Datuk Ahmad Fairuz Zainol Abidin.

Also named in the suit as defendant is former SRC International chief executive officer Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil.

When asked by Harvinderjit whether the witness had met any of SRC BVI’s board of directors during the time these transactions were made, Swampillai replied in the negative.

SRC, under its new management, filed the suit in May 2021, claiming that Najib had committed breach of trust and power abuse, personally benefited from the company’s funds, and had misappropriated the said funds.

The company is seeking general, exemplary and additional damages, as well as interest, costs and other appropriate relief provided by the court.

It is also seeking a court declaration that Najib is responsible for the company’s losses due to his breach of duties and trust and that they demand for Najib to pay back the RM42 million in losses that they have suffered.

Najib, 70, has been serving a jail sentence at the Kajang Prison since Aug 23, 2022 after being convicted of misappropriating RM42 million in SRC International funds.

After he filed a petition for a royal pardon on Sept 2, 2022, Najib’s prison sentence was reduced from 12 years to six years and the fine was cut to RM50 million from RM210 million.

The hearing continues today. —Bernama