This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on August 1, 2019 - August 7, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR: Former AmBank relationship manager Joanna Yu Ging Ping may have used RM55,000 of her own money to cover an overdraft in Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s AmBank account ending 906, to avoid a cheque that was issued from bouncing, the High Court here heard yesterday.

Questioned by defence lawyer Harvinderjit Singh, Yu revealed that she was often told by fugitive financier Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, to refer to his secretary Josie or his associate Kee Kok Thiam for funds when the accounts were overdrawn.

On Sept 29, 2014, a cheque for the amount of RM80,000 was issued to the account of tycoon Tan Sri Lim Soon Peng, causing the account to go into an overdraft of RM55,000.

Based on the BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) chat logs retrieved from Yu’s phone, which were read out by Harvinderjit, Yu had then contacted Kee, who was in Melaka at the time and could not assist her in covering the overdraft.

She then contacted Josie, but she was also unavailable as she was on her way to Penang.

Yu then said she “may need to help fund first” if she could not get the necessary funds before the 4.30pm cut-off time.

“So, that RM55,000 that was put into the 906 account on Sept 29 did not come from Kee or Josie,” said the lawyer.

“I can’t remember,” replied Yu.

“Again, I suggest, the money was from you and you were repaid the amount the next day,” said Harvinderjit.

“It may have been,” said the witness.

Harvinderjit pointed to an exchange between Yu and Josie on Sept 30, 2014, where Yu had thanked Josie for repaying her the amount, with Yu then reiterating that she may have used her own money to fund the overdraft.

During the earlier part of the proceedings, Yu confirmed several fund transfers into Najib’s accounts, including £5.75 million and £2 million transferred into his accounts. Both transactions were noted as “gift” in the supporting document provided to AmBank.

The transactions did not trigger any red flags.

In December 2014, a cheque was also issued from Najib’s 898 account, with Yu telling Jho Low that the account would only be left with RM1 million after the transfer.

Yu had told Jho Low that the account holder needed to stop writing cheques due to insufficient funds, but her advice was not heeded as cheques were still being issued afterwards.

She testified that Jho Low had instructed her to ensure that no cheques issued from Najib’s account should bounce, and that she had gone to the extent of drafting email replies on behalf of the accounts’ mandate holder Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil to her colleagues.

Yu’s BBM chats showed that in 2015 she had told Nik Faisal, SRC International Sdn Bhd’s then chief executive officer and managing director, what to say in his email replies to Yu’s colleagues, Krystale Yap and Daniel Lee, and other AmBank employees.

Yu explained that events, such as delays by signatories, occurred as she relayed information about the transfers into one of Najib’s accounts from others.

“I was telling him what to do… if not the cheque would bounce and it would be the bank’s fault,” said Yu.

“You are not telling him what to do. You are drafting the emails to him,” replied Harvinderjit.

Najib is facing seven charges — three for criminal breach of trust, one for abuse of power and three for money laundering — with regard to the RM42 million.