KUALA LUMPUR, July 8 — SRC International Sdn Bhd stopped being run like a “normal” company after its Memorandum and Articles of Association was changed in April 2012 to make Datuk Seri Najib Razak its “adviser emeritus", former director Datuk Suboh Md Yassin told the High Court today.
Under re-examination by ad hoc prosecutor Datuk V. Sithambaram, the prosecution’s 42nd witness in Najib’s RM42 million corruption trial said the insertion of Article 117 “changed the make-up of the company”.
Suboh: After the insertion of Article 117, [SRC] is no longer a normal company. You have to... in order to operate, you have to receive instruction from whoever is sitting as the adviser emeritus.
Sithambaram: This adviser emeritus, who is he?
Suboh: He was the PM then.
Sithambaram: And just for the record, who was the PM then?
Suboh: Datuk Seri Najib.
The court was previously told by another former SRC International director Tan Sri Ismee Ismail, who was the prosecution’s 39th witness, that the amendment indirectly gave Najib control of the company.
Suboh also testified that neither SRC International nor its subsidiary Gandingan Mentari Sdn Bhd lodged any reports with authorities over its losses.
Sithambaram: These transactions were all carried out, from what we have shown you, between 2014 and 2015 and these involve hundreds of millions of ringgit. Did SRC International or Gandingan Mentari make any report of the funds stolen from accounts?
Suboh: No.
Sithambaram: Are you aware if SRC International or Gandingan Mentari took any legal action against the bank for wrongful transfer of funds?
Suboh: Not that I know of.
According to bank documents presented in court, a total of RM50 million went into Gandingan Mentari’s AmBank account in three separate transactions: RM40 million on December 24, 2014; RM5 million on February 5, 2015 and RM5 million on February 6, 2015.
All the transfers were authorised by former SRC International chief executive Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil and Suboh.
Gandingan Mentari then transferred out the same three amounts on the same day they came in, passing on the money to Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd which is purportedly SRC International’s corporate social responsibility partner.
Subsequently, RM42 million from Ihsan Perdana then made its way into Najib's personal accounts during the same period between 2014 and 2015.
Najib is currently standing trial for seven money laundering and criminal breach of trust charges over RM42 million in SRC International, a former subsidiary of 1Malaysia Development Berhad.
