No due diligence on RM1.8b loan to KWAP: Witness
KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court was told yesterday that SRC International Sdn Bhd failed to perform due diligence on a RM1.8 billion loan to Retirement Fund Incorporated (KWAP) before transferring the amount offshore for purported investment activities.
Its former director Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi, 54, said no due diligence was carried out as the directors’ circular resolution was signed and approved by Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak, who was the prime minister and finance minister at the time.
Shahrol was testifying as a third party in the company’s US$1.18 billion civil suit against Najib and its former CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil.
“I felt I was under obligation by instructions of the prime minister. I would have preferred for information to be available but I went ahead and signed it.
“It was not only instructions. This was signed by the prime minister and former finance minister and shareholder of 1Malaysia Development Berhad, so that carried a lot of weight.
“We tried to find as much information as we could but when it came to execution, the prime minister signed (it), so we had to do it. He thought it was a good idea and I trusted his judgement,” Shahrol said when queried by Najib’s counsel Harvinderjit Singh.
The money was transferred to Falcon Private Bank Ltd in Switzerland and Julius Baer in Hong Kong to be used in the acquisition of two companies in Indonesia (PT ABM Investama and PT Bumi Resources TBk) and two companies in Mongolia (Gobi Coal and Energy Limited and Erdenes-Tavan Tolgoi).
In the 2019 SRC criminal trial, its former chairman Tan Sri Ismee Ismail testified that Nik Faisal was ordered by Najib to transfer the money in a meeting on Sept 7, 2011.
Under a new management, SRC filed the suit in May 2021, claiming Najib had committed breach of trust and power abuse, personally benefited from company funds and misappropriated the said funds.
The company is also seeking a court declaration that Najib is responsible for company losses due to his breach of duties and trust, and for Najib to repay the RM42 million in losses that it suffered.