PUTRAJAYA (Jan 10): Despite the anticipation of incoming personal donations of substantial amounts, former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak told the High Court here on Friday that he did not know how the Saudi royalty had obtained his personal bank account details.

Testifying in his defence in the ongoing 1Malaysia Development Bhd-Tanore (1MDB-Tanore) trial, Najib said he never questioned how his personal bank account details were obtained because as long as the money came in, that was all that mattered. The reason was that he believed that the monies amounting to US$681 million (RM2.081 billion) were donations from the late Saudi ruler King Abdullah.

Najib is being cross-examined for the third day on Friday by deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Kamal Baharin Omar, who continued to drill the former PM on the gaps in four donation letters from Saudi Arabia, dated between Feb 1, 2011, and June 1, 2014. The letters, however, did not come from King Abdullah, but instead from former governor of Madinah Province, Prince Saud Abdulaziz Al Saud. The letters stated that the monies were a gift for Najib's contributions to the Islamic world.

Kamal noted that the monies throughout these years were channelled to Najib's personal AmBank account ending-694, and upon closure of that account, monies were channelled to Najib's other personal AmBank account ending-880. The DPP also highlighted that the letters do not indicate which of Najib's accounts will receive the purported donations.

Kamal: How can [they] know your account [number]?

Najib: I'm not sure.

Kamal: You never asked, never queried how [they] knew your account?

Najib: I didn't ask. Maybe someone had informed them. As long as the money was in, that's all.

Kamal: How can [outsiders] know our account number?

Najib: Maybe someone else told [them]. Maybe [fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho] Jho Low told them.

During Thursday's proceedings, Kamal had also highlighted that the letters were addressed to Najib's personal home address at Langgak Duta. Similarly, Najib said that he didn't know how the Saudi parties had his home address, but he added that his address was known by many.  

Najib also testified that his then principal private secretary, the late Datuk Azlin Alias, had introduced former AmBank managing director Cheah Tek Kuang to him.

It is worth noting that Cheah — who met Najib to facilitate his account opening — had earlier testified that Jho Low was the one who introduced him to Najib. Cheah, who was the 39th prosecution witness in the trial, had said the introduction was made when Cheah arrived at Najib’s house for Najib to sign the account opening forms.

However, on Friday, when asked about Jho Low's presence during that meeting, Najib answered in the negative.

Kamal: [During the] Cheah meeting, Jho Low was also present.

Najib: (I) disagree.

Kamal: Jho Low was the one who introduced [you] to Cheah.

Najib: (I) disagree. Azlin was the one who introduced [us].

On Friday, the 71-year-old also repeated that he didn't make any thorough or significant checks on the incoming funds as he assumed it was from the Saudi royalty, in line with King Abdullah's wishes to lend financial support to the ex-PM.

He, however, said that whenever there were incoming funds, Cheah would contact him to relay the message.

Cheah did not testify to this, he however did testify that he was rather shy around VVIPs and that the meeting to sign the documents was very brief.

In his decision to call for defence, presiding judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah had ruled that given the substantial amount of incoming funds, it was incumbent upon Najib to have checked the source of the monies.

During the proceedings, Kamal also pointed to three images, of which one showed Najib signing a plague to officiate the opening of 1MDB on Jan 11, 2010. This followed the former PM's earlier testimony that he had never set foot in the company's office.

When shown the images, Najib said that his presence then was only for the "officiating ceremony and nothing more substantive".

In this trial, Najib is accused of four abuse of power and 21 money-laundering charges.

The trial before Sequerah continues on Monday.

Read also:
Najib visibly shaken as prosecution attacks his inconsistencies over 'donation' details
1MDB-Tanore: Why no thank-you note to Saudi donors? Prosecution takes aim at consummate gentleman Najib's 'bad manners'
1MDB-Tanore trial: Ex-AmBank MD admits Jho Low introduced him to Najib
1MDB-Tanore: Letter doesn't refer to meeting at which purported donations were 'promised'