Najib: I didn’t ask for ‘special treatment’, never hid my identity for AmIslamic accounts receiving ‘donations’

Najib: I didn’t ask for ‘special treatment’, never hid my identity for AmIslamic accounts receiving ‘donations’



Jailed former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is back in court to defend himself against corruption charges at the 1MDB trial on December 12, 2024. — Picture by Firdaus Latif

Thursday, 12 Dec 2024 1:28 PM MYT


KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 12 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak today said he never asked AmIslamic to give him “special treatment” when he was prime minister for his bank accounts, claiming that it was the bank which had decided to give them codenames.

Testifying in his own defence in his trial over 1Malaysia Development Berhad’s (1MDB) misappropriated RM2 billion funds, Najib said he found it quite surprising that the prosecution was claiming that he had played a role in getting codenames to these bank accounts.


The prosecution is alleging that the billions of money which entered Najib’s AmIslamic accounts were 1MDB funds, while Najib insists that he believed the money were donations from the late Saudi Ruler King Abdullah to him.

Having opened two current accounts with the account numbers ending 9694 and 1880 at AmIslamic bank in 2011 and 2013, Najib said he “never asked” for these two bank accounts to have the designated codenames “AmPrivate Banking-MR” and “AmPrivate Banking-1MY”.


“I would like to emphasise that I have never concealed my identity as the beneficial owner of my AmIslamic accounts ending in 9694 and 1880,” he told the High Court.


He added that this was supported by court testimonies from AmBank officers and documents at that time.

During the 1MDB trial, multiple banking documents produced as evidence had referred to Najib’s bank accounts only by their codenames instead of by his name.

But Najib said that the assigning of codenames to his accounts was an “internal decision made by AmBank”, basing this on the bank’s former managing director Cheah Tek Kuang’s court testimony.

According to Najib, it was AmBank’s operations team that proposed the codenames to maintain confidentiality and prevent any sensitive information from being leaked since it was a high-profile account.

“I suppose AmBank viewed the fact that I was receiving donations from the Saudi monarchy and government as sensitive information.

“I was neither informed of this decision nor did I request any special treatment,” he said.

Referring to banking forms for him to open those two AmIslamic accounts (9694 and 1880), Najib said he had opened the accounts using his personal name “Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak” and with the name matching his national identity card, in compliance with proper banking procedures and transparency.

He confirmed that the account opening forms had stated his employer then as the Prime Minister’s Department of Malaysia, and said one of these forms had a notation which stated that he was a “non-foreign PEP”, short for politically exposed person.

Najib said he had from the start intended to be transparent about his AmIslamic bank accounts and their purpose, unlike other individuals – such as now-fugitive Low Taek Jho, 1MDB’s former in-house lawyer Jasmine Loo, Najib’s former special officer Datuk Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin.

He said they, unlike him, opened offshore accounts under company names with the alleged knowledge that they were receiving 1MDB-linked funds.

“In contrast, I had no reason to hide my identity or to conceal the fact that I was receiving donations from His Majesty King Abdullah. On the contrary, I was honoured and deeply appreciative that His Majesty had chosen to provide such support,” he said.

“The reason and the only reason I opened accounts at AmIslamic was to receive donations from King Abdullah who was the King of Saudi Arabia, however the designated accounts to receive donations were the accounts ending 9694 and 1880,” he said at another point.



Former AmBank managing director Cheah Tek Kuang. — File picture by Ahmad Zamzahuri



Najib’s two AmIslamic bank accounts were opened at the bank’s Jalan Raja Chulan outlet, but he claimed to have never set foot in that branch and that it was instead Cheah visited him at home, carrying along the account opening forms.

“Yes, Yang Arif, at that time, I was the prime minister, can you imagine the prime minister walking into the Jalan Raja Chulan branch? It would create quite a bit of a stir not only with the staff, but also the customers,” he said.

He said there were many people who could attest to his assertion.

The accused said he had told both the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and the police during investigations that it was his then principal private secretary, the late Datuk Azlin Alias, who had in early 2011 recommended for Najib to open an account under his own name at AmIslamic bank to receive the purported donation fromKing Abdullah.

Najib said Azlin had said he would coordinate with Cheah.

Asked by his lawyer Wan Azwan Aiman Wan Fakhruddin on how Azlin came to know about the alleged donation, Najib said: “He must have been told by Jho Low, I suspect, about the impending donation.”

Najib said he had a brief meeting of around five minutes in the living room of his Langgak Duta house in 2011 with just Cheah to sign the account opening forms, and that he had told the latter he was expecting to “receive a donation from Saudi Arabia, specifically a personal contribution from King Abdullah”.

Najib said he had asked Cheah to inform Bank Negara Malaysia and the latter told the central bank’s then governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz.

He added that he had no obligation to ask Cheah to do so since he was a PEP but wanted to ensure transparency.

About a week after opening the AmIslamic account, Najib said Azlin informed him of a February 1, 2011 letter from a purported Saudi prince named Prince Saud Abdulaziz Majid Al Saud to inform him of an upcoming gift of US$100 million for him to use at his “absolute discretion”.

Najib claimed Prince Saud was King Abdullah’s authorised representative.

Najib confirmed he started receiving millions of ringgit in this 9694 account which he insists were King Abdullah’s donations, saying that the total sum of US$99,999,976 (equivalent to RM304,329,765.73) he received in 2011 matched the promised gift’s sum of US$100 million.

The US$99 million which Najib referred to came in the form of four transactions (US$10 million on February 24, 2011, US$10 million on June 14, 2011, over US$49 million on August 19, 2011, and over US$29 million on November 25, 2011).

The first two sums of US$10 million each are part of Najib’s first power abuse charge.

In the 1MDB trial, Najib is facing 25 criminal charges, including four power abuse charges where he is accused of abusing his powers to obtain financial benefit for himself.

Najib’s 1MDB trial before judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah resumes this afternoon.