‘Najib never mentioned meeting late Saudi king’

KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Razak never mentioned a purported high-profile meeting with the late King Abdullah Abdulaziz Al Saud in 2010 when interrogated by the Malaysian AntiCorruption Commission (MACC), the High Court heard.

MACC senior officer Nur Aida Ariffin said the meeting in Riyadh attended by Najib and his team of ministers was only brought up in another corruption hearing involving SRC International Bhd funds.

In the SRC International trial, former foreign minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman, former Malaysian ambassador to Saudi Arabia Professor Datuk Syed Omar Al Saggaf and former minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom all testified about the meeting at the defence stage.

“There were no issues about the meeting during my investigation. He (Najib) never mentioned this... it was brought up in the SRC (International) trial.

“I did not receive any instruction to interview the ministers involved in the meeting,” she said under cross-examination by Najib’s lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.

Jamil, when testifying in the SRC International trial, said King Abdullah transferred “political aid” to Najib’s personal bank accounts to avoid “complications”.

He said the Saudi king made the decision in a private meeting at an unofficial gathering with Malaysian delegates in Riyadh on Jan 11, 2010.

Jamil said King Abdullah, who spoke in Arabic, promised to transfer aid directly to Najib’s account as the former did not know how political organisations spent their money.

On July 28, 2020, Najib was sentenced to 12 years’ jail and fined RM210 million after he was found guilty of one count of abuse of power with regard to the Retirement Fund Incorporated’s RM4 billion loan to SRC International, as well as three counts of criminal breach of trust and abuse of power involving RM42 million of SRC International funds.

However, the Federal Territories Pardons Board halved his jail term to six years, and reduced his fine to RM50 million.

Nur Aida, who was the investigating officer in the case, said MACC had sent a mutual legal assistance request to Saudi Arabia over the donation letters to Najib from Prince Saud Abdulaziz Al Saud, but to no avail.

She said a team of high-ranking MACC officers went to Riyadh to obtain statements from witnesses there, during which two princes confirmed that the letters were indeed from Saud.

Najib is standing trial on 25 charges of abuse of power and money laundering over alleged 1Malaysia Development Bhd funds amounting to RM2.28 billion deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.

The hearing before presiding judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues.