‘NAJIB SHOCKED OVER RM42M DEPOSIT’
Ex-PM upset after learning money banked into personal account, says witness
DATUK Seri Najib Razak was “shocked and upset” when he found out that RM42 million had been banked into his personal accounts.
A witness who revealed this in the High Court here yesterday said the former prime minister expressed such feelings when he was informed about the matter in 2015.
Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd (IPSB) managing director Datuk Dr Shamsul Anwar Sulaiman said he told Najib about it after being released by the Malaysian Anti- Corruption Commission (MACC).
Dr Shamsul said he was detained for five days by MACC and had his statement recorded about money which had been funnelled from an 1Malaysia Development Bhd account to various of its subsidiary companies, including SRC International Sdn Bhd and IPSB.
The 58-year-old testified that IPSB account had also been used as a “transit” before huge amounts of cash was transferred to a company called Mail Global Resources and the private account of an unknown person.
However, Dr Shamsul said he
only found out that the unknown individual was actually Najib after reading about it in the Wall
Street Journal (WSJ) and from MACC officers.
He said MACC officers told him that money which had flowed from 1MDB to SRC and IPSB eventually ended up in Najib’s account.
“I did not know about this. They asked me repeatedly who was the holder of the unknown account but I maintained that I really did not know the person’s identity.
“I only came to know it was Najib after I read about it and MACC officers told me,” he said during cross-examination by Najib’s lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.
Dr Shamsul said he went to meet Najib after being released from MACC custody and informed the latter about what had happened. Shafee: When you were detained by MACC they kept suggesting that you committed an offence? Dr Shamsul: Yes. They said I was abetting in a crime.
Shafee: They said you had knowledge about money which
was transferred to the private account was not for corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes? Dr Shamsul: Yes. Shafee: They accused you of abetting in a criminal breach of trust (CBT) offence?
Dr Shamsul: Yes.
Shafee: This is in spite of you saying that you never knew who the money was transferred to and what it was meant for?
Dr Shamsul: Yes.
Shafee: As far as you knew it was for CSR?
Dr Shamsul: Yes. Shafee: They kept reminding you that there was a prospect of you being charged? Dr Shamsul: Yes. I asked them whether they want me to tell the truth or to lie after they kept accusing me of having information about the money.
Shafee: What did they want you to say?
Dr Shamsul: They said I knew who owns the private account. But I did not know.
Dr Shamsul said he met Najib after being released to tell him what had happened and saw that he was genuinely taken aback upon being informed what had happened.
“He was shocked that someone had been putting money into his accounts.
“He did not know who it was. He was upset,” he said.
Asked if he also apologised to Najib for “feeling somewhat responsible” because IPSB’s account had been used to channel money into the latter’s personal accounts, Dr Shamsul said: “Yes, I did because the last company to transfer money into his account was IPSB.
“I told him I did not know. My company was used as a transit before the money was transferred to Najib’s accounts without my knowledge.”
Shafee then asked Dr Shamsul whether he questioned the person who had instructed him to transfer the money, the witness replied that he did but was not given the information.
Dr Shamsul testified on Tuesday that he was instructed to allow IPSB’s account to be used as a transit by Yayasan Rakyat 1 Malaysia project director Dennis See.
He had revealed that See was the one who asked him to remit the money to Najib’s accounts but at that time he did not know who the beneficiary was.
Later, during re-examination, deputy public prosecutor Muhammad Saifuddin Hashim Musaimi asked Dr Shamsul whether he suggested to Najib to lodge a report with the police or the MACC.
To this, Dr Shamsul said he did not.
The hearing before judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali will resume on June 10.