This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on July 22, 2019 - July 28, 2019

FORMER AmBank Bhd relationship liaison manager Joanna Yu and a mystery witness are scheduled to testify at the trial of Datuk Seri Najib Razak on Monday, a prospect anticipated by many given that the former managed and oversaw Najib’s bank accounts as well as those of SRC International Sdn Bhd.

The mystery witness is speculated to be Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Datuk Mohd Hafarizam Harun (a lawyer who represented Najib) or Ling’s previous attorneys, Ranjit Singh and Yeoh Cho Keong.

The possibility of a mystery witness being called to the stand came into focus after the prosecution summoned High Court senior assistant registrar S Mageswary to testify last Thursday (July 18) on documents pertaining to Najib’s defamation suit against Ling, a former MCA president, in October 2015.

The former transport minister had called Najib a thief over his alleged use of public funds in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal and said he (Najib) was unfit to lead the country.

Ling filed a counter-claim and attempted to strike out Najib’s suit but failed last year.

Subsequently, Najib withdrew the suit and agreed to pay costs of RM25,000 to Ling on May 22 last year, just days after the 14th general election.

Last week, Mageswary, 35, told the court presided by judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali that there were four interlocutory applications as well as affidavits filed by Mahathir in support of Ling.

Those documents have already been tendered as evidence in Najib’s current trial and a witness familiar with the case will be called to verify the document — which the former premier allegedly admitted that RM42 million belonging to SRC had been deposited into his bank accounts — the subject matter of his criminal trial.

Hafarizam was also implicated and is facing two separate money laundering charges for allegedly receiving illegal funds amounting to RM15 million from Najib.

Najib maintained that he did not know the source of the funds in his AmBank accounts as the transactions had been arranged by then-SRC CEO and managing director Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil and Low Taek Jho, who the authorities claim was the mastermind behind the 1MDB saga. Both Nik Faisal and Low — better known as Jho Low — have gone into hiding.

On the stand, Yu is expected to shed light on Najib’s bank accounts and SRC.

Last week, former Yayasan Rakyat 1Malaysia (YR1M) CEO Ung Su Ling testified that Yu also managed YR1M’s bank accounts.

Ung said Najib’s then-principal private secretary, the late Datuk Azlin Alias, had instructed her to deposit RM27 million and RM5 million on Dec 26, 2014, and a further RM10 million on Feb 10, 2015, into bank account numbers he provided. He told her that the money was for CSR (corporate social responsibility) purposes.

Ung said she verified the account numbers with Yu and added that she did not know that the accounts, into which she asked Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd Datuk Dr Shamsul Anwar Sulaiman to deposit the funds, belonged to Najib.

Former AmBank group managing director Cheah Tek Kuang testified last week that Yu had informed him of Najib’s request to open accounts with the bank. He then went to Najib’s private residence in mid-January 2011 with the requisite documents.

Yu was appointed as relationship liaison manager for these accounts and was said to have exchanged a number of BlackBerry messages with Cheah and Ung with regards to the accounts.

Against this backdrop, Yu’s testimony is expected to be vital to the prosecution’s case.

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