I helped deposit RM200k cash into Rosmah's account - witness

A former operations management officer at Kompleks Seri Perdana in Putrajaya testified that he had helped deposit RM200,000 into the bank account of Rosmah Mansor, the wife of then-prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.

During the first day of Rosmah’s RM7 million money laundering and tax evasion trial this morning, Faizal Shamsuddin told the Kuala Lumpur High Court regarding the transaction on June 17, 2015.

The second prosecution witness, who was on contract with the official residence of Najib and Rosmah between 2012 and 2018, testified that he helped one Roslan Sohari - who was the residential house manager of Seri Perdana Complex - to deposit the RM200,000.

Faizal told trial judge K Muniandy that Roslan handed him the cash contained in an envelope to be brought to an Affin Bank branch at Bangunan Getah Asli, Kuala Lumpur, in order to be deposited into the accused's account.

"On the same day, I handed the envelope containing the money to a female officer at the Affin Bank branch of Bangunan Getah Asli, Kuala Lumpur, to be deposited into Rosmah Mansor's bank account," he said, adding that the account number ended in 0058.

During open-court proceedings, Faizal identified an exhibit showing the bank's deposit form for RM200,000 dated June 17, 2015, into Rosmah's account.

"Based on my handwriting on this deposit form, I confirm the deposit of the cash made by me on the direction of Roslan.

"I had deposited the cash into account 0058 on the same day that the cash was handed to me," Faizal said.

"I do not know the source of the cash and purpose of the cash deposited by me into Rosmah's account. Roslan also never told me the source of the cash and the purpose of the cash," the witness added.

12 money laundering counts

The case is set for case management on Sept 7, in order for Rosmah's legal team to update on the status of its intent to strike out the criminal charges against her.

Rosmah faces 12 money laundering counts involving RM7,097,750 and five charges of failing to declare her income to the Inland Revenue Board (IRB).

The offences were purportedly committed at Affin Bank Bhd, Bangunan Getah Asli branch, ground Floor, 148 Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur, between Dec 4, 2013, and June 8, 2017, and the IRB office at Kompleks Bangunan Kerajaan, Jalan Tuanku Abdul Halim, KL, between May 1, 2014, and May 1, 2018.

The money laundering charges are framed under Section 4(1) (a) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act - and those convicted are punishable under Section 4(1) of the act with a jail term of up to 15 years and a fine of not less than five times the value of the unlawful activity proceeds or RM5 million, whichever is higher, upon conviction.

The tax evasion charges under Section 77(1) of the Income Tax Act 1967 claim that Rosmah failed to furnish returns of her income for the 2013 to 2017 assessment years to the IRB director-general on or before April 30, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 without reasonable excuse, in contravention of Section 112 of the Act.

Rosmah has also been previously convicted and sentenced to 10 years in jail and an RM970 million fine by the High Court in Kuala Lumpur in a corruption case linked to the solar hybrid energy project for 369 rural schools in Sarawak.

However, the High Court allowed a stay on the execution of the sentence pending her appeal to the Court of Appeal to quash the guilty verdict as well as the jail term and fine.

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