KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 18): Sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd had transferred nearly RM20 million to FashionValet's bank account in 2018, the Sessions Court heard on Tuesday.
Testifying in the ongoing FashionValet co-founders Datuk Fadzarudin Shah Anuar and Datin Vivy Sofinas Yusof's criminal trial, banker Lee Hui Nee confirmed that the monies went to the e-commerce fashion platform's public bank account in two tranches.
A sum of RM7,848,000.00 was transferred on March 23, 2018, followed by a sum of RM11,742,000.00 a couple of days later on March 26, 2018. The prosecution's fourth witness added that the description for both transfers was: "Rentas Non Treasury Pulau Tiga Ventures FashionValet Sdn Bhd".
Lee, who is the branch manager at the Menara CIMB KL Sentral branch, also said that apart from these transfers in March 2018, there were no other transfers from Khazanah's CIMB account to FashionVallet.
The 58-year-old added that the transfer of funds was carried out pursuant to a written instruction which bore the signature of Khazanah Nasional Bhd's authorised signatory.
Lee said that as of 2022, Khazanah's authorised signatories for the CIMB account were divided into two groups. One group consisted of Datuk Amirul Feisal Wan Zahir, Faridah Abu Bakar Ali, Tengku Datuk Seri Azmil Zahruddin Raja Abdul Aziz and Datuk Mohamed Nasri Sallehuddin.
The other group of signatories included Nik Nazhah Nik Abdul Aziz, Juhana Hamzah, Ng Eu Gin and Ainol Roznain Yaacob.
The husband and wife are on trial over allegations of criminal breach of trust (CBT) involving RM8 million of funds from Khazanah and Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB). The sum was transferred from FashionValet's account to 30 Maple Sdn Bhd without the approval of the FashionValet board of directors.
The court had heard testimony last month that PNB had transferred about RM20 million to the company in 2018.
During cross-examination by defence counsel Shaarvin Raaj Selva Kumar, Lee agreed that after the transfers she was not in a position to comment on how the money was spent.
The witness also concurred that she was not privy to any agreements between the company and Khazanah stipulating how the monies should be spent. Lee also agreed that Khazanah's CIMB account was not a special trust or an escrow account.
She also testified that there were no instructions from the authorities to freeze the flow of the funds.
During cross-examination by the defence, Lee also confirmed that there were also two separate transfers from Khazanah to Vivy and her husband in March 2018. However, the witness testified that she was only tasked to look at transactions restricted to FashionValet.
Shaarvin: On March 23, 2018, before the funds were transacted to FashionValet, there was also a transaction to FashionValet's director, Vivy Yusof. Agreed?
Lee: I agree.
Shaarvin: After the transaction to FashionValet on March 23, 2018, there was also a transaction to FashionValet's director, Fadzarudin. Agreed?
Lee: I agree.
The sum involved in these transactions was not revealed in court.
During re-examination by deputy public prosecutor Haresh Prakash Somiah, Lee said that she did not know what the transfer to the individual directors was about.
"I don't know. It's just that when the lawyer referred to the statement, I saw the two names on it, but I didn't know they were the directors of FashionValet. So, my answers were based on the statement in front of me now," she said.
Earlier, Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) assistant registrar R Harshini took the stand as the prosecution's third witness. She confirmed that Fadzarudin was appointed as FashionValet’s director in December 2012 while Vivy was appointed as the company's director in September 2010.
The 36-year-old confirmed that both Vivy and Fadzarudin were appointed as directors of 30 Maple in December 2013.
Harshini testified that there were no changes in the duo's status of directorship from 2012 to 2024. She, however, added that she could not attest to their status from 2025 till 2026, as her search did not include that period.
The trial before Sessions Court judge Rosli Ahmad continues on Oct 16.