Former 1MDB’s subsidiary applied the loan for working capital and general investment

by RAHIMI YUNUS / pic by TMR GRAPHIC

SRC International Sdn Bhd submitted a RM3.95 billion loan application to Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP) via a mere two-page application letter, a witness told the Kuala Lumpur High Court yesterday.

On the 12th day of the trial, a former KWAP assistant VP Amirul Imran Ahmat testified on the application letter which was prepared by SRC International, addressed to the former Prime Minister (PM) and the then-Finance Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Razak, to request for the RM3.5 billion loan.

Amirul Imran said the former 1Malaysia Development Bhd’s (1MDB) subsidiary applied the loan for working capital and general investment.

The prosecution’s 29th witness said he received a copy of the letter, which was signed by former SRC International director and CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, on June 3, 2011.

“Is it usual for KWAP to receive a loan application letter in two pages?” prosecutor Datuk Ishak Mohd Yusoff asked.

“There is, but it would be unusual,” Amirul Imran replied.

He also told the High Court that the application letter was signed by Nik Faisal.

Email correspondence showed that Amirul Imran had, at multiple times, requested for supporting documents including 1MDB’s and SRC International’s audited accounts, details of investment mandate and business plans for him to process the loan application.

He added that he was in a rush mode to process the loan and under a lot of pressure to approve it.

At an instance, the 39-yearold said he was instructed to prepare a loan proposal paper of RM1 billion only for the approval of KWAP’s investment panel due to a lack of information furnished to the firm.

According to him, he sent an email dated June 16, 2011, to Noor Azlina Abu Bakar, an assistant to Nik Faisal, for further information like 1MDB’s audited accounts, latest available management records and company profile of SRC.

Nik Faisal replied on June 29, 2011, in an email that the documents would be sent as required by KWAP the following day.

However, Amirul Imran said an email from Nik Faisal on July 1, 2011, stated that he was unable to provide the information.

“Disclosure of the detailed information requested is subject to approval of the chairman of the SRC board of advisors and PM for which we have sought and have not obtained clearance to disclose thus far,” the email read.

Earlier, the prosecution’s 28th witness, Datuk Dr Kamariah Noruddin, revealed that 1MDB had requested for a RM3 billion grant to the government in 2010 to establish SRC International — via a three-page proposal.

The former director (energy) of the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) testified on a letter dated Aug 24, 2010, signed by former 1MDB MD Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi and addressed to

Najib, which proposed SRC International to venture into the supplies of coal, uranium, oil and gas (O&G), steel and aluminium to secure strategic state of the nation’s key resources.

After an evaluation, Kamariah said EPU supported the establishment of SRC International only for the company’s venture into coal and uranium, and EPU only supported for a RM20 million launching grant.

She said EPU did not support SRC International to do O&G because the country already has Petroliam Nasional Bhd, while the unit viewed the steel and aluminium sector should be led by the private sector.

Kamariah said she found it hard to process the grant application as it was out of the ordinary.

“It was an application by 1MDB to the finance minister, and then forwarded to EPU,” the 61-year-old said in the trial yesterday.

EPU is a unit under the purview of the PM’s Department.

She said former Minister in the PM’s Department Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop, who was in charge of EPU, had asked her to prepare comments on the proposal.

The prosecution’s 27th witnesses, Zarina Yusuf, a deputy chief accountant at the PM’s Department, testified that Najib received RM58,605 a month from May 2009 to April 2018 as a PM.

But, in May 2018, Najib received a RM1.017 million salary inclusive of special payments made according to the PM and former PM Act.

Meanwhile, the prosecution’s 26th witness, Farah Nurdiana Azhar, an administrative officer in Parliament, testified that Najib from 2011 to 2014 received RM10,355 a month as an MP and the leader of the Dewan Rakyat.

The Pekan MP received RM19,846 a month from January 2015 to March 2018, excluding special allowances paid on certain months.

Earlier, Judge Datuk Mohd Nazlan Ghazali postponed Najib’s trial on 1MDB to Aug 19 until Nov 14, to allow the SRC trial to complete by June 21. The 1MDB case management was fixed on June 21.