March 29, 2024

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Bank officer confirms almost US$670 million transferred into Najib’s personal account

federal court

Kuala Lumpur, June 18 — A bank officer told the Kuala Lumpur High Court yesterday that almost US$670 million in five transactions was transferred into Najib Razak’s personal account between 2011 and 2013, including two transactions from Prince Faisal of Turkey Al-Saud.

Ambank (M) Bhd SWIFT unit manager Wedani Senen, 48, said the transactions involved the former prime minister’s bank accounts, ending with the number 694.

The 29th prosecution witness said a sum of US$20 million was deposited into Najib’s account number 694 by Prince Faisal in two transactions on Feb 24, 2011 and June 14, 2011.

She also confirmed that on Oct 30, 2012 and Nov 19, 2012, US$4,999,988 and US $24,999,988 was transferred from Blackstone Asia Real Estate Partners – a company owned by Eric Tan, an associate of fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho or Jho Low – into Najib’s account.

account

The court was also told that US$620 million was transferred into Najib’s account from Tanore Finance Corp on March 22, 2013.

Wedani said this when reading from her witness statement at Najib’s trial for the misappropriation of RM2.3 billion in funds from 1MDB.

During the morning proceedings, Labuan Financial Services Authority (LFSA) Business Policy Unit legal specialist Mohamed Fairudz Mohd Hanif, 38, confirmed that two companies, Good Star Limited and PetroSaudi International Limited (PSI), which received US$1.83 billion from 1MDB between 2009 and 2011, were dissolved in 2014 and 2015, respectively.

Good Star Limited, owned by Jho Low, was dissolved on May 2, 2014, while PSI, owned by Saudi-national Tarek Obaid was dissolved on April 8, 2015.

Fairudz said LFSA received this information from the Seychelles Financial Services Authority (Seychelles FSA) after an application from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to obtain information from four offshore countries for the 1MDB case.

“Those countries were the British Virgin Islands, Seychelles, Curacao and Cayman Islands. MACC, which was representing the Malaysian government, applied to the LFSA to obtain information on Good Star Limited and PSI which were registered in Seychelles,” he said.

The 28th prosecution witness said that after that, he sent a letter dated Aug 10, 2018 to the CEO of Seychelles FSA and its supervision manager. A reply from the Seychelles FSA was received two months after the application was made.

He said according to the Seychelles FSA, the two companies on the Seychelles FSA company register had the same business address and used the same agent, Vistra (Seychelles) Limited, formerly known as Offshore Incorporations (Seychelles) Limited.

In earlier proceedings, former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi told the court that US$1.83 billion in 1MDB funds was injected into PSI and Good Star Limited.

Najib, 68, faces four charges of using his position to obtain bribes totalling RM2.3 billion from 1MDB funds and 21 charges of money laundering involving the same amount.

The trial before judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues on Monday.

NMT as reported by Bernama