‘NAJIB PAID RM230,000 FOR AH JIB GOR FACEBOOK PAGE’
He paid similar sum to firms handling a Chinese daily, news portal, witnesses tell court
DETAILS of how Datuk Seri Najib Razak paid for the upkeep of his “Ah Jib Gor” Facebook page, publication of a Chinese weekly and setting up of a news portal called The Malaysian Digest were revealed yesterday.
It was revealed that the administrator of the Facebook page and those handling the Chinese weekly were paid RM238,914, while the Malaysian Digest operator was given RM240,000.
Witnesses testified how Najib paid for all this to keep his pulse on Chinese issues.
It was also revealed that Najib paid a company RM150,000 monthly to monitor Chinese media and social media sites.
The company, known as Centre for Strategic Engagement Sdn Bhd (CENSE), was set up by a former executive director of Sin
Chew Daily, Rita Sim.
Sim testified that CENSE was established in 2010 to conduct surveys, public policy research and offer Chinese media monitoring services.
She said her company was engaged by Najib’s former adviser, the late Tan Sri Jamaluddin Jarjis to provide the services for the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
She said CENSE monitored six Chinese newspapers for the prime minister’s media office, namely Sin Chew Daily, Nanyang Siang Pau, China Press, Guang
Ming Daily, Kwong Wah Jit Poh and Oriental Daily.
She said the newspapers’ articles were analysed before daily, weekly and monthly reports were sent to the PMO.
“We looked at all the six newspapers and social media websites on issues concerning the Chinese.
“We summarised and analysed all the issues and sent the briefs to the media office of the PMO through WhatsApp daily,” she said, adding that weekly and monthly reports were also sent via e-mail.
Asked by deputy public prosecutor Muhammad Saifuddin Hashim Musaimi on who gave her instructions to do that, she said it was Jamaluddin, who was popularly known as JJ.
Saifuddin: What was his role in the PMO?
Sim: I am not sure, but we (CENSE) had meetings with him at the PMO in Putrajaya.
Saifuddin: Were you paid for this work?
Sim: Yes. We were paid RM150,000 in December 2014 and RM150,000 in January 2015.
Sim, who was the 14th prosecution witness, later confirmed receiving a cheque of RM300,000 for two months’ work via the firm’s RHB bank account in Bangsar.
A banker, Badrul Hisham Mohamad, last week verified that the cheque made payable to CENSE originated from an AmBank account linked to Najib.
Asked if she had met Najib before, Sim said: “Yes, but always with a group of people.”
When cross-examined by Najib’s lead counsel, Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, Sim said CENSE was hired to find out why the Chinese appeared to be antigovernment. Shafee: For what purpose were you hired? Sim: They were trying to figure out issues affecting the Chinese as they were concerned and they wanted to know problems faced by the community.
Shafee: Was Najib concerned about the Chinese as a whole? Sim: Yes.
Sim explained that education and the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) were among issues that concerned the community, and all this was sent as a report to the PMO.
Asked if her findings and analyses had garnered any action from the government, she replied in the affirmative and said allocations for vernacular schools had been increased, while allocations for small- and mediumsized enterprises, a majority of which were Chinese owned, had also been increased.
The next prosecution witness, Onn Hafiz Ghazi, testified that he was a shareholder in a company called Vital Spire Sdn Bhd.
He said the company was paid RM240,000 to run online news portal The Malaysian Digest.
He said the portal was set up on Najib’s instructions.
He said he met Najib at the
PMO and received a cheque on Jan 30, 2015.
“He wrote and signed the cheque in front of me.”
He said the news portal was set up to provide “accurate, fair and balanced reporting”.
Later, another witness revealed how Najib paid RM238,914 to a Chinese community leader known as Tan Sri Lim Soon Peng.
Najib’s former political secretary, Datuk Wong Nai Chee, said the payment, via a cheque, was made to Lim to be disbursed to two other entities.
He said the payment was for AD Network and Akademi Kewar-tawanan dan Informasi Taima.
Wong said AD Network operated the “Ah Jib Gor” Facebook page, while the other company handled the publication of the Chinese weekly.
He said Lim was engaged to sort out the payment as the PMO could not have such a cheque issued by Najib “flying around”.
He said Lim was close to the Chinese grassroots and could rally the community for programmes such as those held during Chinese New Year.
He said the “Ah Jib Gor” Facebook page was opened for the former prime minister to interact with the Chinese community, while the weekly contained objective articles by prominent writers.
He said the articles in the weekly offered a better understanding of the then Barisan Nasional government and its policies.
Najib is facing three counts of criminal breach of trust and one count of abuse of power over funds amounting to RM42 million linked to SRC International Sdn Bhd.
He is also facing three money laundering charges over the same fund. He faces up to 20 years’ jail and a fine for the offences.
The trial continues.