Sithambaram says Najib is trying to shift the accountability for the misappropriation of RM42m away from him

by RAHIMI YUNUS / pic by BERNAMA

DATUK Seri Mohd Najib Razak’s defence gave some “cock-and-bull story” about the involvement and manipulations by Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, and some key individuals at SRC International Sdn Bhd, the Court of Appeal heard.

This, ad-hoc prosecutor Datuk V Sithambaram (centre) said, was to shift the accountability for the misappropriation of RM42 million away from him.

In Najib’s SRC International appeal, Sithambaram said the former prime minister (PM) tried to “bury the truth” with “absurd tales” about the roles of fugitive businessman Jho Low and others, such as his former private secretary Datuk Azlin Alias and SRC International CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, in the transactions while claiming he had no knowledge and was a victim of an orchestrated foul play.

He said the three individuals were tasked to ensure funds in Najib’s accounts were sufficient to issue cheques or spend.

The prosecutor further said Najib was the one who played “tricks” over SRC International’s funds.

“How can this be a trick? The appellant is playing a trick to bury the obvious truth.

“It is so bizarre, My Lord. I cannot make heads or tails. It is a cock-and-bull story,” Sithambaram at the appeal hearing in Putrajaya yesterday.

Sithambaram said everything that Jho Low did was with Najib’s full knowledge and the former did not deceive the latter into thinking the money was Arab donations as claimed by the defence.

He said Najib misled the court by claiming that he believed the money that he spent were Arab donations.

“In actual fact, the funds were from Jho Low, who was bank-rolling Najib. Blaming Jho Low for ensuring Najib had adequate funds in his personal account is simply outrageous,” he said.

Sithambaram highlighted how numerous BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) chats between the 54th prosecution witness, AmBank relationship manager Joanna Yu Ging Ping and Jho Low had indicated actual knowledge on Najib’s part regarding the status and transactions involving his personal accounts.

The BBM chats created and raised a strong inference that Najib must have had actual knowledge on the status, the countless transactions in and out of his accounts and the actual balance for him to take action in utilising the funds, including the monies of SRC that entered his bank accounts,” the prosecutor added.

Sithambaram said relevant chat transcripts that fortified Najib’s actual knowledge of the funds within his accounts included occasions where Jho Low would forward BBM text messages he received from Najib to Joanna, and copying BBM text messages that Jho Low had sent to Najib on the account balances after enquiring with Joanna on the exact balance.

The lawyer then cited Najib’s cross-examination transcript and BBM chats, which he said, confirmed that Najib indeed had communications with Jho Low directly through messages on his accounts’ status.

“The BBM chats where reference is made by Jho Low to the appellant (Najib) were readily admitted by the appellant as being his messages sent to Jho Low. The appellant admitted that he could gauge how much he could spend by communicating on a few occasions with Jho Low.

“The appellant further stated that he communicated with Azlin, who informed him as to how much the appellant could spend.

“In short, there is an admission by the appellant that he knew his bank balance from Jho Low and Azlin,” he said, adding that Najib in his defence said he never knew the balance in his account has thus failed.

Sithambaram also submitted yesterday that the defence’s argument on the use of forged signatures of two SRC International directors to remit the RM42 million into Najib’s accounts was not an issue in the case.

He said, if at all there was a dispute, it would be between the company and the bank, not Najib, and the issue is a non-starter particularly for the criminal breach of trust (CBT) charges.

“The issue raised is a red herring by the defence and who would have the audacity to fix a then sitting PM (Najib),” he said.

Additionally, he said Najib did not sue the bank for negligence nor did he ask the financial institution to pay back the money.

Sithambaram also said there was evidence that the SRC International directors had authorised the bank to conduct electronic transfer and that the bank acted based on the mandate of the company’s signatories.

Najib was found guilty of all the seven charges — one count of abuse of position, three counts of CBT and three counts of money laundering — relating to the misappropriation of RM42 million belonging to SRC International.