KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 2): Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission investigating officer Nur Aida Arifin told the High Court on Tuesday that her investigations showed Datuk Seri Najib Razak had allegedly committed the offence of using his position to receive gratification — an offence under Section 23 of the MACC Act.

Nur Aida, 37, the 49th prosecution witness, said that Najib had received a sum of RM3.634 billion into two Ambank accounts.

“The investigation into this case could be divided into four phases namely Good Star, Aabar, Tanore and Options buyback. From the testimony of the witnesses, documentation and financial analysis revealed the offence of using his position for gratification of a sum of RM3.634 billion (which) was deposited into Ambank accounts 2112022009694 and 2112022011880.

“Of that amount, a sum of RM2.282 billion is the subject matter of this investigation,” she added.  

Nur Aida was responding to questions from Deputy Public Prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib.

Najib’s lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah objected to Nur Aida’s statement as he claimed it was hearsay, and amounting to a conclusion which only the court could determine.

Court of Appeal judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah, who is presiding over the trial, took note of the defence's objection.

Nur Aida said that investigations into Najib began in August 2015 when she was then deputy investigation officer in the case, but that there was a subsequent report lodged in 2018, when she was the IO. In the latter case, Najib was alleged to have received US$681 million from Tanore Finance Corporation through Falcon Private Bank Singapore, purportedly to "buy votes" in preparation for the 2013 general election.

In Nur Aida’s investigations she listed the sum of RM3.342 billion which had entered Najib's account ending 9696 as having come from Prince Faisal Bin Turkey Bin Bandar Al Saud to the tune of RM369,029,514, Ministry of Finance Riyadh RM243,699,926.32, Blackstone Asia Real Estate Partners RM523,389,779.96 and Tanore Finance Corp RM2,081,476,926.

She said interest of RM24,208,906.74 had been credited into the account which was opened with a deposit of RM500, and that there had been a cheque returned of RM50,727,850 as well as a  reversal of RM50,000,082.50 from the account.

The witness also said as for the account ending 1880, it received a sum of RM292,365,208.27, with the amount coming from among others, Vista Equity International Partners RM45,837,485.70 and Blackrock Commodities (Global) Ltd RM4,093,500.

Nur Aida said as the investigator she observed and investigated based on documents obtained from the police, 1Malaysia Development Bhd, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), financial institutions including Ambank, Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC), Labuan Financial Services Authority (LFSA), Finance Ministry, the Prime Minister's Department and foreign administrations like Singapore, Switzerland, Barbados, Hong Kong and Netherlands via the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 2002.

She added that the Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA) became 1MDB in Sept 2009, and that amendments to three articles in its Memorandum of Articles and Association, led to Najib's control of 1MDB as he was PM, Finance Minister and chairman of the 1MDB board of advisers.

Nur Aida testified that a RM5 billion Islamic Medium Term Note (IMTN) was raised from Ambank to develop TIA and that this was eventually used by 1MDB for its joint venture with PetroSaudi International (PSI) following an earlier meeting held in mid-2009.

She said 1MDB wanted an independent evaluation of PSI’s assets as a joint venture company 1MDB-PetroSaudi Ltd was to be formed on a 50%-50% basis, plus 1MDB was interested to up its stake in the joint venture company to 60%. She said a sum of US1 billion was required for the investment in the JV.

The sum of US$300 million was paid to the joint venture company but the remaining US$700 million was paid to Good Star Ltd, then disguised as a full affiliate of PSI, which resulted in the full transfer of the US$700 million, Nur Aida added.

Prior to the payment, she said 1MDB's chairman of the board of directorsn, Tan Sri Mohd Bakke Salleh, had said that on Sept 26 just before a special board meeting was to be held over the board's disagreement with PSI's conditions, Bakke had received a call from Najib on Jho Low’s phone.

In that conversation, Bakke said Najib had told him that the proposal from PSI was important and that it was an important G to G project. Following the conversation, the board agreed to the payment.

The witness further said on Oct 3, 2009, at the 1MDB board of directors' meeting, Bakke voiced his displeasure that 1MDB’s senior management had not followed the board's directives in relation to the US$700 million payment that had been made to a different account than the joint venture account.

“Shahrol Azral informed the board that the directive to transfer the funds came from PSI’s lawyers from White & Case and (as well as) Jho Low’s directive that the funds should be transferred to Good Star then considered an affiliate of PSI.

“However, the 1MDB board of directors wanted 1MDB to bring back the US$700 million and (that it be) transferred to the proper channel that is the JVCo. The board further questioned the valuation of US$2.7 billion in PSI’s assets done by valuer Edward L Morse within a short span of eight days, and directed for a third valuation to be done on PSI’s assets,” she said.

Following the board's directives, Shahrol Azral and another 1MDB officer went to London to negotiate with PSI the return of the US$700 million.

On Oct 10, 2009, Nur Aida said Shahrol Azral tabled the result of that discussion wherein Tarek Obaid who owns PSI had rejected the request as he insisted that PSI wanted to deal through Jho Low only. Tarek also maintained that the US$700 million transfer did not have an impact on 1MDB’s share in the JVCo.

Following that visit to London, the witness added that Najib held a meeting with Shahrol Azral to discuss the disagreement by the 1MDB board, but in any event signed the minutes of the meeting prepared by Jho Low earlier without any amendments.

“On Oct 19, Bakke resigned as the 1MDB board of directors as he was not satisfied with the 1MDB management and also Najib’s directives which agreed with the 1MDB management without thinking of the consequences. Tan Sri Azlan Mohd Zainol, a fellow 1MDB board member also resigned on Jan 11, 2010,” she said, adding Tan Sri Che Lodin Wok Kamaruddin was appointed to replace Bakke.

Throughout the proceedings, Shafee objected to Nur Aida’s testimony as he claimed that it was “jaundiced” in its conclusions, and that it was the court's task to come to the conclusions.

In the current trial, Najib faces four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering of RM2.27 billion of 1MDB funds. The trial before Justice Sequerah continues on Friday.