.JPG "BNM manager Azizul Adzani Abdul Ghafar arrives at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur April 15, 2019. u00e2u20acu201d Picture by Hari Anggara")
KUALA LUMPUR, April 15 — Bank Negara Malaysia had raided an Ambank branch in 2015 to obtain details on Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s personal bank accounts, an officer from the central bank testified today.
The raid took place back when Najib was still the prime minister and finance minister.
BNM manager Azizul Adzani Abdul Ghafar, 41, told the High Court that he was appointed as a raiding officer during the operation on July 6, 2015, at the Ambank building at Jalan Raja Chulan in Kuala Lumpur.
Azizul said he had been tasked then with “raiding Ambank to assist in investigations” over suspected offences committed under anti-money laundering laws.
He is the second prosecution witness to testify in Najib’s trial over RM42 million from former 1Malaysia Development Berhad subsidiary SRC International Sdn Bhd.
Azizul said that during the 2015 raid, he had given Raja Chulan Ambank branch manager, R. Uma Devi, a list of bank accounts of which information were required for BNM’s investigation, and that the latter had provided the requested documents.
He then recorded these in a list of documents seized for the central bank’s money-laundering investigations.
The documents seized included eight folders with information relating to the opening of four Najib accounts, three accounts of SRC International and one account of SRC International’s subsidiary, Gandingan Mentari Sdn Bhd, in Ambank.
Based on previous court documents, two of the four Najib accounts read out in court today are those through which he was accused of receiving a total of RM42 million of illegal funds on December 26, 2014 and February 10, 2015 — in sums of RM27 million, RM10 million; and RM5 million respectively for the two accounts.
When asked by deputy public prosecutor Suhaimi Ibrahim to confirm the list of documents, Azizul affirmed them.
The list of eight folders are:
4. A folder with the opening form and supporting documents for the opening of a fourth Najib account, as well as a October 2011 letter from Najib himself, and an authorisation letter
5. A folder with the opening form and supporting documents for the opening of a SRC International account
6. A folder with the opening form and supporting documents for the opening of a SRC International account
7. A folder with the opening form and supporting documents for the opening of a SRC International account
8. A folder with the opening form and supporting documents for the opening of a Gandingan Mentari account
According to Azizul, he had carried out the 2015 raid together with three other BNM officers.
Azizul said he had handed over the list of the documents taken from the raid, as well as the actual folders of documents to Ahmad Farhan on July 7, 2015.
Azizul said he joined the central bank on January 19, 2000, as an executive and was appointed as an investigations officer in 2008.
*In an earlier version of this report, the bank account details mentioned above were inadvertantly conflated with that of another case but have since been corrected upon review.
