Najib should know money deposited into his account, says witness

The High Court here yesterday heard that it was impossible for former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to utilise the money in his accounts if he had no knowledge of it having been deposited into the accounts.

Former AmBank relationship manager, Joanna Yu Ging Ping, 48, who handled Najib's accounts said the accused, as the account holder, should know what happened with his accounts especially when he issued some cheques.

The 54th prosecution witness said this during re-examination by Deputy Public Prosecutor Datuk V.Sithambaram on the 49th day of Najib's trial in relation to the misappropriation of SRC International Sdn Bhd's funds totalling RM42 million.

Sithambaran: As a banker, looking at the fact of this case, is it possible for the account holder to utilise the fund without knowledge? You would know that you need (sufficient) funds to issue cheques. Yu: No. Sithambaran: Has there been any allegation that any of the cheque issued were not by him (Najib). Yu: No. Sithambaran: Did Jho Low (infamous fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho) utilise the cheque from Najib?

Yu: I am not aware because I do not know all the details from the cheque, but from what I have seen so far, no.

Sirthambaran: Any of the cheque paid to Jho Low?

Yu: No.

Sithambaran: Did former SRC International Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil transfer money out of these accounts?

Yu: No. Sithambaran: Did you transfer any money for your benefit? Yu: I did not. Sithambaran also asked whether Najib had ever queried about the source of the money, and the witness replied, “No.”

To a question whether it is possible for a person to know if there was RM395 million (in the account), Yu said: “If you wrote a cheque, you would know that there are sufficient funds.”

To that, Sithambaram said, "Unless the money grows on trees, right?”

However, Yu remained silent.