KUALA LUMPUR, June 17 — Documents suggesting former SRC International Sdn Bhd chief executive Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil had colluded with the company’s former director Datuk Suboh Md Yassin concerning a 2014 transaction of RM140 million that was meant to be invested in South America were revealed at the High Court trial of Datuk Seri Najib Razak today.
This particular transaction was not known to the rest of the SRC International board, another former director Tan Sri Ismee Ismail testified under cross-examination from Najib’s defence lawyer Harvinderjit Singh.
The purported documents detailed how SRC International’s subsidiary company Gandingan Menteri Sdn Bhd entered into a mining joint venture in South America with Putra Perdana Construction Sdn Bhd, with 70 per cent of profits going to Gandingan Mentari and the rest to Perdana Putra.
Several documents were submitted to the court that detailed how RM170 million that SRC International had meant to invest in the South American venture and which was supposed to be presented to its board was not, and that some RM140 million was moved around in several bank transactions without their knowledge.
Ismee, who returned as the prosecution’s witness, agreed under questioning that those documents had been signed by then CEO Nik Faisal and Suboh in 2014.
It was also revealed that Nik Faisal and Suboh had both purported to be investment managers tasked to look into the feasibility of entering the South American mining industry at the same time.
“These would have been disclosed to the board?” Harvinderjit asked Ismee, referring to the documents pertaining to the South American investment.
“No,” Ismee replied.
He also replied in the negative when Harvinderjit asked if he had attended the SRC International board meeting when Nik Faisal and Suboh spoke about the RM140 million in investments.
“That by July 24, RM140 million had already gone out of the accounts, this was not told to you?” Harvinderjit asked.
“It was not told,” Ismee said.
Then Harvinderjit suggested that Suboh appeared complicit in helping Nik Faisal pull off the trick “deal”.
Ismee appeared hesitant to agree with the defence lawyer.
“I wouldn’t judge, but it would appear so,” he said.
Later, as the defence went over the bank slips, Harvinderjit asked Ismee if the transactions showed the money trail from Gandingan Menteri ended up in Putra Perdana’s account.
“Yes,” Ismee concurred.
Harvinder had gone through the documents, which showed the RM140 million credited into Putra Perdana’s account from SRC International’s, to which Ismee said the board was also not told about.
Ismee was then presented with bank statements in court today, detailing how the RM140 million flowed out of SRC International’s accounts and into Putra Perdana’s coffers via three tranches of RM105 million, RM30 million, and RM5 million, dated on July 8 and 14, and August 8, 2012.
Ismee is back for the sixth day as the prosecution’s 39th witness in Najib’s trial, with proceedings held before High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali.
Later in the afternoon session, Ismee was walked through that additional documents issued to Putra Perdana from Gandingan Mentari by Nik Faisal in capacity as its director, requesting for the turnkey investment agreement be increased to RM170 million from the original RM140 million.
Ismee then replied in the negative when questioned by Harvinderjit whether the board of SRC International was kept informed over this increase in investment.
“It appears Nik Faisal who was acting in capacity as the company director writes to Putra Perdana Constructions on 8 August, requesting for the scheduled turnkey investment to increase the investment to RM170 million. This was also not shown to the board?” Harvinderjit asked.
“No,” replied Ismee.
Ismee in court today was not able to confirm if the RM140 million deposited out of SRC International’s accounts was indeed monies obtained from the loans given by the Retirement Fund (Incorporated) (KWAP).
Ismee is expected to continue his cross-examination tomorrow morning when the trial resumes tomorrow, having been on the stand as a prosecution’s witness since last Monday.
Najib is on trial for seven charges of abuse of position, criminal breach of trust and money-laundering over RM42 million of SRC International’s funds.
During the course of the trial, witnesses have testified that KWAP gave a total of RM4 billion in loans in 2011 and 2012 to SRC International, with money allegedly flowing through other companies before being transferred into Najib’s accounts.
At the time of the first loan application, SRC International was the wholly-owned subsidiary of 1MDB which was owned by the Finance Ministry’s Minister of Finance Incorporated (MoF Inc); while SRC International was parked directly under MoF Inc by the time of the second loan application.
