Day 64: Defence will introduce new witnesses in January, court hears

LIVE | The criminal trial of former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak involving the alleged misappropriation of funds from SRC International Sdn Bhd enters day 64 today at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysiakini brings you live reports of the proceedings.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

• Defence will introduce new witnesses in January, court hears
• Najib: How SRC spends its borrowed funds up to board of directors
• I don't get involved in operations as I was looking after the country - Najib
• DPP likens Najib's reply to Lingam case's "looks like me, sounds like me"
• Najib: Arab donation was not a cover story
• 'I cannot be responsible if something goes wrong'
• Only my account managers will receive banking alerts, says Najib
• Najib, Sithambaram spar over the authenticity of signatures
• I will lodge police report after expert examines documents - Najib

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Reporting by Hariz Mohd and Hidir Reduan Abdul Rashid. Photographs by Azneal Ishak. Social media updates by Ewe Linq Yenn.

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Defence will introduce new witnesses in January, court hears

4.51pm - Najib Abdul Razak's defence team will introduce new witnesses in January.

This is conveyed by the former prime minister's defence counsel Harvinderjit Singh at the end of proceedings today.

However, the lawyer does not say how many witnesses or who they are.

Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali then allows the trial to adjourn for the day.

The prosecution's cross-examination of the accused will continue tomorrow around 9.30am as Nazlan has a separate case decision to deliver around 9am.

Najib: How SRC spends its borrowed funds up to board of directors

4.15pm - Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, who used to be the chairperson of SRC International's board of advisers, denies that he had ever been consulted on how the company spent the RM2 billion it borrowed.

Under cross-examination by DPP V Sithambaram, he says that such things are considered as operational matters and fell under SRC's board of directors (BOD).

"No. My position in SRC was to determine strategic matters. Not day-to-day operations," says Najib, in response to Sithambaram, who puts to him that he was holding a special position in the company.

Najib also tells the court that such things would only come to his knowledge if the matter was referred to him by the BOD.

This gets the DPP to confront him to earlier testimony by the company's former BOD chairperson Ismee Ismail, who claimed that Najib had given such orders to them.

Sitham: Ismee said you gave this (shareholder) minutes for them to carry out.

Najib: No, I didn't

Proceedings resume after break

4.10pm - Court resumes after break.

3.45pm - Court adjourns for a short break.

I don't get involved in operations as I was looking after the country - Najib

3.36pm - Najib Abdul Razak tells the High Court that he does not get involved in operational matters like the transfer of RM40 million from SRC International to Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd in 2014 as he was looking after the country.

The former prime minister says this in response to cross-examination by DPP V Sithambaram who is asking about SRC and Gandingan Mentari purportedly not disputing the outflow of RM40 million into Ihsan Perdana.

Najib: I do not know, it is up to management (of SRC among others). Ask them.

Sithambaram: You are an important person (as advisor emeritus of SRC International among others).

Najib: I do not get involved in operational matters as I was looking after the country.

DPP likens Najib's reply to Lingam case's "looks like me, sounds like me"

3.12pm - DPP V Sithambaram likens Najib Abdul Razak's answers as akin to the infamous VK Lingam video clip's "looks like me and sounds like me".

This description by the DPP causes both the former prime minister and others present in the Kuala Lumpur High Court to burst out in laughter.

Sithambaram: The letter has your name with your signature?

Najib: Looks like my signature.

Sithambaram: Whenever you say it like that, there was a previous case of "looks like it, sounds like it".

Najib's answer is in reply to Sithambaram's question on whether a letter written to AmBank dated Dec 24, 2014, showed Najib's signature.

Sithambaram is believed to be referring to the infamous early 2000s case of a video clip which purported to depict lawyer VK Lingam.

During the related Royal Commission of Inquiry, Lingam reportedly said that the person in the video "looks like me and sounds like me".

Proceedings resume after lunch break

2.50pm - Proceedings resume after lunch break.

12.53pm - Proceedings adjourn for lunch break.

Najib: Arab donation was not a cover story

12.50pm - Former premier Najib Abdul Razak disagrees with a suggestion by DPP V Sithambaram that his account of Saudi royal donation was just a cover story.

The suggestion was made by Sithambaram as Najib reiterates in court that he believed the money he spent by issuing numerous cheques in 2015 was from the donation.

Najib claimed that he did not know that the funds in his Ambank accounts at that time had been deposited under instructions from Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil (photo) who was the person with the mandate to manage the accounts.

Sithambaram: How could you not know about it?

Najib: I assumed there would be money from donation. I was not informed otherwise.

Sithambaram: That is just a cover (story).

Najib: I disagree.

'I cannot be responsible if something goes wrong'

12.24pm - Najib Abdul Razak tells the High Court that he cannot be responsible for whatever that goes wrong in his bank accounts managed by others.

This is because he has delegated his authority to others.

He says this during cross-examination by DPP V Sithambaram, who asks whether the accused can be personally responsible for what goes wrong in the AmBank bank accounts ending in 898, 906 and 880.

These three accounts play a key part in the prosecution's RM42 million SRC International case against Najib.

Sithambaram: Are you personally responsible for your banking transactions?

Najib: I have delegated (the authority).

Sithambaram: Are you personally responsible still?

Najib: If something goes wrong, how could I be responsible?

Sithambaram: Are you personally responsible no matter what others (such as former SRC CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil who was authorised to manage Najib's accounts) did?

Najib: I cannot be responsible if something went wrong.

Court resumes after break

12.08pm - Proceedings resume.

11.41am - Court goes for a short break.

Only my account managers will receive banking alerts, says Najib

11.10am - The court hears from former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak that only the persons who handled his bank accounts would be alerted if there was an alarm on suspicious transactions.

Najib says this when being asked by DPP V Sithambaram about the reversal of RM32 million from his accounts in 2015, purportedly to repay loans from Permai Binaraya Sdn Bhd and Putra Perdana Sdn Bhd.

Sithambaram: If RM32 million comes into and then leaves your account, that will be something that will ring alarm bells?

Najib: To those who managed my accounts. Because I did not manage my own accounts.

Najib, Sithambaram spar over the authenticity of signatures

10.35am - The court sees accused Najib Abdul Razak and veteran lawyer V Sithambaram, who is acting as a DPP, goes into a verbal sparring match over the former prime minister's signatures on documents related to SRC International.

This happens as Najib refuses to give straight answers to Sithambaram's questions, including when the lawyer poses yes-or-no questions to him.

Sithambaram's (photo, above) line of questioning goes into the issue of Najib disputing his signatures on the documents.

The DPP puts to Najib that it was only an afterthought as he had confirmed them during questioning by MACC.

Najib, however, denies that this was the case.

Sithambaram: When you were shown the photocopy (during MACC's investigation), you confirmed the signatures without any reservation at that stage.

Najib: At that stage.

Sithambaram: After sitting in court and hearing cross-examinations by your lawyers as an afterthought you are saying these are not your signatures.

Najib: No, I disagree

I will lodge police report after expert examines documents - Najib

10.12am - Najib Abdul Razak testifies that he will lodge a police report after a handwriting expert has examined documents containing his forged signatures.

The former prime minister says this during cross-examination by DPP V Sithambaram to the question on why no police report was lodged over the alleged forged signatures on documents linked to the RM42 million SRC International case.

Najib: I want to call for a handwriting expert first before making a police report.

Sithambaram: You are still not sure if it is forged?

Najib: I am quite sure they were forged, but I want to be certain. That is the reason I made an application to call for the (handwriting) expert to make an in-depth examination (of the documents).

It was reported that Najib's defence team is seeking for a handwriting expert from Australia to come and examine the veracity of Najib's alleged signatures on key documents linked to the case.

Najib enters the witness stand as trial begins

10.12am - Najib Abdul Razak enters the witness stand as his RM42 million SRC International trial begins.

Also seen in court is the former prime minister's lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.

9.32am - Najib Abdul Razak's lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah is not seen in judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali's High Court, where the former prime minister is set to undergo his RM42 million SRC International trial.

It is understood that Shafee is attending to a separate criminal case involving himself at the Kuala Lumpur Courts Complex before he could come to Najib's RM42 million SRC International trial.

9.10am - Former treasury secretary-general Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah is seen sitting at the front row of the public gallery.

He is waiting for mention of the 1MDB-linked RM6.64 billion IPIC case against him and former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.

Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali will attend to the IPIC case mention first before dealing with Najib's RM42 million SRC International trial.

9.05am - Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak is seen sitting at the front row of the Kuala Lumpur High Court public gallery, waiting for proceedings to begin.

Also seen in court is DPP V Sithambaram, who is set to cross-examine the accused over his 243-page prepared witness statement.

The prosecution is set to grill Najib Abdul Razak in-depth over every disputable point in the former premier's 243-page witness statement at his RM42 million SRC International trial.

At the end of proceedings last Wednesday, DPP V Sithambaram informed High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali the prosecution's plan after attorney-general Tommy Thomas wrapped up Najib's initial cross-examination.

Unlike the two-day initial cross-examination conducted by Thomas, Sithambaram is set to question Najib, who was also a former finance minister, on every potentially contestable issue contained in the accused's voluminous witness statement, which may result in the cross-examination taking a bit longer.

Mindful of the preparation required for this more in-depth cross-examination, the judge allowed the prosecution's application to vacate trial dates initially set for Thursday last week as well as on Monday and yesterday in order for the prosecution to make adequate preparation.

While under cross-examination by Thomas on Wednesday last week, Najib testified that he too wanted to know what happened to the missing RM4 billion that SRC International borrowed from Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP), a pension fund for civil servants.

Thomas's cross-examination of Najib also revealed to the court that SRC International first applied for loans of billions of ringgit from KWAP in 2011, months before the 1MDB-linked company's board of directors was even appointed.

This will be the first time Najib will appear in public following the explosive statutory declaration (SD) published by Malaysiakini two days ago where police commando Azilah Hadri, who is on death row, alleged that he was ordered by Najib to kill Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariiibuu. 

Najib has denied the accusation, describing Azilah's SD as a "complete fabrication". 

[More to follow]

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SRC trial: Najib's 'don't know' counter stands at 46 times

'Najib ordered me to kill Altantuya' - Azilah's shocking allegation from death row

This is a complete fabrication, Najib rubbishes Azilah's claims