Almost RM50m went into Najib's account in 2014, High Court hears
NAJIB TRIAL | An AmBank account belonging to former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak was credited with almost RM50 million between June and December 2014, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur heard this afternoon.
On the 37th day of the SRC International hearing against Najib, a witness testified that the private account, ending with 880, received some RM49.92 million from two companies, Blackrock Commodities (Global) Ltd and Vista Equity International Partners.
NAJIB TRIAL | An AmBank account belonging to former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak was credited with almost RM50 million between June and December 2014, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur heard this afternoon.
On the 37th day of the SRC International hearing against Najib, a witness testified that the private account, ending with 880, received some RM49.92 million from two companies, Blackrock Commodities (Global) Ltd and Vista Equity International Partners.
Based on earlier documents released by the United States Department of Justice, it was established that both Blackrock Commodities and Vista Equity are owned by one 'Eric Tan'. This name has since been identified as an alias for fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho.
AmBank Rentas Unit manager Wedani Senen testified under cross-examination by defence lawyer Harvinderjit Singh that funds were credited six times into the 880 account during that period to make up the total amount of RM49.92 million.
Wedani said RM4.093 million was credited into the account on June 23, 2014. That was the amount in ringgit upon exchange from £750,000 transferred by Blackrock Commodities four days earlier.
She said the difference in time from when the money was debited by Blackrock Commodities and when it was credited into Najib's account was due to several processes required by the bank to process foreign currency transfers.
The other five transactions saw the remaining amount of RM45.83 million credited into Najib's account from Vista Equity on Oct 21, Nov 24, Nov 26, Dec 10 and Dec 19, 2014.
The DOJ had previously noted that, despite the similarity in names, Blackrock Commodities had no affiliation with the global investment management company BlackRock Inc.
The Edge reported in May that Blackrock Commodities was among several companies that had purchased jewellery from 30 jewellers around the world, many of which had been found at the Pavilion Residences units linked to Najib that were raided last year in Kuala Lumpur.
Four earlier transactions did not state the purpose
Later, under re-examination by deputy public prosecutor V Sithambaram, Wedani told the court that the four earlier transactions did not state the purpose of the money transfers.
According to her, the last two transactions stated the purposes as 'loan' and 'loan agreement', respectively. The transactions were monies transferred by Vista Equity amounting to RM12.1 million.
Sithambaram: Page 9, the remittance information, what is stated there?
Wedani: Loan.
Sithambaram: Page 10, what is the payment detailed there?
Wedani: Loan.
Sithambaram: Refer to page 11, remittance, what (is the) purpose (stated)?
Wedani: Loan agreement.
Sithambaram: Refer to page 12, what is the purpose?
Wedani: Loan agreement.
Sithambaram: In the first four documents, is there anywhere stated payment was for gift or donation?
Wedani: No.
The pages Sithambaram was referring to are of a transaction document dated Dec 10, 2014, where Vista Equity transferred RM5.36 million into the 880 account.
Pages 11 and 12 refer to the Dec 19, 2014, transaction where the company transferred RM6.81 million into the account.
Are you sure you want to delete this comment?
This action cannot be undone.