KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 3): Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said he had no knowledge of the central bank's "remarkably swift approval" of the US$1 billion that was transferred out of the country in 2009.

Testifying in his own defence at the 1MDB-Tanore trial — so named as the trial involves 1Malaysia Development Bhd's (1MDB) dealings with Tanore Finance Inc, a company allegedly used to channel funds from 1MDB to Najib — Najib said it would have been reasonable for Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) to raise concerns over such a sizeable remittance, but noted this was not done.

"I was not aware of the remarkably swift approval for such a significant transaction. Given the circumstance — where the receiving party kept changing, how the disbursement of funds was altered, and considering this was seed money for a joint venture — it would have been reasonable for BNM to raise concerns and conduct further inquiries. However, this did not occur," the 71-year old told the court during Tuesday's proceedings.

The transaction was controversial, as the management had gone against board directions and the monies were eventually misappropriated. The 1MDB board had directed that US$1 billion be deposited into the accounts of 1MDB PetroSaudi Ltd, the fund’s joint-venture (JV) company with oil services company PetroSaudi International Ltd (PSI).  

1MDB’s management, however, diverted US$700 million of the US$1 billion into an account belonging to Good Star Ltd, on grounds that Good Star was PSI’s affiliate. In truth, Good Star was linked to fugitive Low Taek Jho (Jho Low).

The JV agreement was also not entered into with PSI, but rather with a company called PetroSaudi Holdings (Cayman) Ltd.

The ex-PM also testified on Tuesday that it was only through evidence presented in the course of the trial, as well as former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner's testimony in separate legal proceedings in the US concerning 1MDB, that he came to know of the speedy clearance and remittance.

In 2022, Leissner testified in a 1MDB-linked bribery trial involving his ex-colleague Roger Ng in New York that former BNM governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz's husband, Datuk Dr Tawfiq Ayman, was bribed to obtain BNM’s approval for an overnight transfer of the US$1 billion.

Tawfiq had denied Leissner's testimony. When Zeti took the stand as the prosecution's 46th witness in this 1MDB-Tanore trial, she testified that neither she nor members of her family had taken a "single cent" in relation to the 1MDB scandal.

"This sworn testimony by Leissner not only underscores the highly irregular nature of the transaction but also reveals that Zeti's husband, leveraging his wife's position as [governor], facilitated the approval process in exchange for a bribe, as Leissner testified," Najib said on Tuesday.

Najib also testified that he was "not surprised" that no one else was held accountable for this transaction, "given the politically motivated agenda to make him solely responsible for everything," he claimed, adding that Zeti and her husband had not been charged despite the alleged evidence against them.

Najib is facing four charges of abuse of power and 21 money-laundering charges in the 1MDB-Tanore trial, which is being presided over by judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah.

Read also:
Zeti: My husband doesn't know Leissner and Ng of Goldman Sachs, never received bribes
Zeti: No one in my family received 1MDB money
Tawfiq and Bank Negara put under the spotlight
Leissner’s damning testimony