I never met Najib directly over his account: Ex-PM's banker

1MDB TRIAL | Najib Abdul Razak’s former banker Joanna Yu testified that she never directly dealt with the then-prime minister over his accounts.

The former relationship manager with AmBank told the High Court in Kuala Lumpur that she only dealt with fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) in relation to the former finance minister’s accounts.

During the RM2.28 billion 1MDB corruption trial against Najib this afternoon, Yu (above), the 41st prosecution witness, said this in relation to when Najib opened an account with the commercial bank in early 2011, namely a current account ending in 694 and a savings account ending with 481.

The prosecution contended that the account ending in 694 was utilised in the embezzlement of funds from 1MDB.

“In relation to the opening of these accounts, I did not deal directly or meet with Najib himself.

“For all matters relating to Datuk Seri’s (Najib) accounts, I dealt will Jho Low, who was the one who informed me that Datuk Seri Najib wanted to open personal accounts with the bank, and later I dealt with Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil after receiving a mandate letter from Datuk Seri Najib listing Nik Faisal as Datuk Seri Najib’s representative with the bank regarding his personal bank accounts,” Yu told trial judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah.

Nik Faisal was 1MDB’s chief investment officer, who, via letters from Najib, was made the mandate holder of the then prime minister’s accounts.

Yu said that sometime in 2011, Low told her that Najib was keen to open an account and that AmBank’s then-managing director, Cheah Tek Kuang, should meet the then-prime minister for that purpose.

She said that she procured the forms and gave them to Cheah, who later went to meet Najib to get his signature.

Yu testified that after Cheah procured the signatures and handed the documents to her, she forwarded them to the AmBank branch at Jalan Raja Chulan, Kuala Lumpur, for processing.

The witness added that it was Low who requested her to ensure that Najib’s 694 account be classified as “strictest confidence”, whereby it would not be easy to reveal the account holder’s name to anyone who has access to the accounting system at the bank.

Yu explained that after a discussion with the bank’s operations division, the code name AmPrivate Banking-MR was chosen as the code name for the 694 account.

In previous proceedings, Cheah testified that during a meeting with Najib, the accused had allegedly told him that he wanted to open the 694 account in order to receive an Arab donation.

The trial before Sequerah will resume on Nov 7.

25 charges against Najib

Najib is on trial for four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering involving RM2.28 billion from 1MDB.

In relation to the four abuse of power charges, the incumbent Pekan MP was alleged to have committed the offences at AmIslamic Bank Berhad’s Jalan Raja Chulan branch in Bukit Ceylon, Kuala Lumpur, between Feb 24, 2011, and Dec 19, 2014.

On the 21 money laundering counts, the former finance minister was purported to have committed the offences at the same bank between March 22, 2013, and Aug 30, 2013.

The prosecution contended that the wrongdoing at 1MDB was carried out by Low and several others with Najib’s blessing.

However, the accused’s defence team claimed that Najib had no knowledge of the crime perpetrated at 1MDB and the embezzlement was solely masterminded by Jho Low and other members of the fund’s management.

1MDB is wholly owned by the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MOF Inc).

Najib also used to be the chairperson of 1MDB’s board of advisers.

The BN advisory chairperson is serving a 12-year jail sentence after the Federal Court on Aug 23 dismissed his appeal against the SRC conviction over seven criminal charges, the custodial term and an RM210 million fine in lieu of an additional five years in jail.

Initially a subsidiary of 1MDB, SRC later became fully owned by MOF Inc. Najib also used to be adviser emeritus to SRC.

Yu also testified against Najib during the SRC trial.

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