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KUALA LUMPUR (March 11): A liquidator for SRC BVI, a subsidiary of SRC International Sdn Bhd, told the High Court on Monday that some of the funds meant for the company's investments went into former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's personal accounts as well as his stepson's film production company.
Angela Barkhouse, a Briton, is the second witness in the SRC International civil suit trial to recover from Najib the US$1.18 billion that formed the bulk of the Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP) loans of RM4 billion.
Barkhouse testified that US$120 million went into Najib's personal accounts and US$18 million went to Red Granite Capital's accounts which is owned by Najib's stepson Riza Aziz, through shell companies controlled by fugitive Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low.
The money had reached Najib and Riza through a series of layering, Barkhouse told the court.
Barkhouse, testifying in court via Zoom from the Cayman Islands, confirmed through her witness testimony that a portion of the RM4 billion loan from KWAP made its way to a Swiss BSI account, followed by elaborate transactions with Enterprise Emerging Market Fund in Curacao, Blackstone Asia Real Estate Partners Ltd in British Virgin Island, and then to Singapore, where a sum of US$120 million landed in Najib's bank account.
She said that the US$120 million was transferred to Najib's accounts in three tranches via Blackstone, the first tranche was US$70 million which was transferred on Dec 29, 2011.
The other two tranches were US$25 million each and were transferred on March 12, 2012 and May 22, 2012.
"Najib received US$120 million of the loan proceeds from KWAP to SRC International, and my basis for saying this is demonstrated in the fund flow," she said.
She then told the court that Blackstone did not do any legitimate business but was used by Jho Low to launder money with his associates. Jho Low remains missing despite an international hunt.
"I believe that Blackstone was a shell company that conducted no legitimate business, other than to launder funds misappropriated from 1MDB and SRC International.
"The registered agent of Blackstone has provided company documents confirming that the ultimate beneficial owner of the company was Tan Kim Loong, a known associate of, and proxy for, Jho Low," she said.
In laying out the money trails of the SRC and KWAP funds for the court, she stated that SRC International had transferred a sum of US$481 million originating from the RM4 billion KWAP loan to SRC BVI's BSI bank account. From that sum, US$471.4 million were transferred out to Blackstone between Nov 29, 2011 and July 6, 2012 through a series of layering.
She elaborated that there were further movements of funds out of Blackstone to various intermediaries involved in the fraud against SRC International.
One of them was US$168.5 million to Standard Chartered's bank account number 1379014422 of Alsen Chance Holdings Ltd between Feb 10, 2012 and Jan 8, 2013. Alsen Chance is a BVI-incorporated company owned by Tan, being the sole director and shareholder of the company.
She testified that out of the amount of US$168.5 million, some US$17.5 million was transferred to Red Granite's BSI bank account between February and May 2012, among others.
She then said that another US$500,000 was transferred to Red Granite from Blackstone. The money originated from US$60 million from the KWAP loans which were to be paid to a joint venture between SRC BVI and the government of Abu Dhabi with the primary objective of investing in projects associated with the exploration, extraction, processing, logistics and trading of conventional and renewable energy resources, natural resources and minerals.
The joint venture company, known as Aabar-SRC, had used the majority of the funds it had received to acquire 14 million shares in Gobi Coal & Energy Ltd (GCE) for US$91 million on or around Dec 8, 2011.
Shortly after the money went to GCE, the US$500,000 to Riza was sent to the company via an HSBC account owned by GCE.
In this case, SRC International is seeking a declaration from the court that Najib is liable to account for the company's losses of US$1.18 billion due to breach of duties and trust.
Former SRC managing director Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil is also named as a defendant in the suit. Nik Faisal remains at large, and he was last known to be in Indonesia.
SRC is also asking for an order for Najib to compensate US$120 million and Nik Faisal to pay US$2 million to SRC, and that the company is entitled to trace the amount in general, exemplary and aggravated damages.
Najib is currently serving a six-year jail sentence and RM50 million fine, which was recently reduced from a 12-year jail sentence and RM210 million fine following a partial pardon by the former King, for the former PM's conviction in the SRC International criminal trial.