FMT:
I didn’t send King
Abdullah a ‘thank-you’
note, Najib tells court
Najib Razak says the ‘financial assistance’ he received was a ‘sensitive matter’, and such correspondence would have had to go through Wisma Putra.
The former prime minister also confirmed that he had received US$20 million in 2011 from one “Prince Faisal”, whom he claimed was a member of the same royal family.
Testifying under cross-examination in his 1MDB trial, Najib said he “assumed” that Faisal was a member of the royal family and that “King Abdullah must have instructed him” to effect the transfer.
“(Members of) the royal family (like Faisal) would not act on their own,” Najib said when asked whether he had inquired who Faisal was, given the large sum of money involved.
Asked by deputy public prosecutor Kamal Baharin Omar why he did not thank King Abdullah for the funds, Najib said such correspondence would have had to go through Wisma Putra.
“This is a sensitive matter,” he added.
Kamal: Isn’t it part of our Malay custom to thank someone who gives or contributes (something) to us?
Najib: This (financial assistance) is personal to me.
Najib also told the court that after meeting with King Abdullah in 2010, he spoke to his then principal private secretary Azlin Alias about a need to open bank accounts to receive the funds.
He said he was informed by fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho that the financial assistance would be in the region of US$1 billion.
“Datuk Azlin introduced Cheah (Tek Kuang) to me,” he said, referring to the former managing director of AmBank who previously testified for the prosecution.
Najib opened a savings and a current account with Ambank. The two accounts were closed in 2013. He opened three other current accounts with the bank that same year.
Najib said he did not know how Faisal had obtained his bank account details to make the remittance.
“Maybe Jho Low told him,” the former prime minister said.
Kamal: Who informed you about the incoming funds?
Najib: I think it was Cheah.
The hearing continues before Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah on Jan 13.
Najib is standing trial on 25 charges of abuse of power and money laundering over funds amounting to RM2.28 billion which were deposited in his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.
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