KUALA LUMPUR, July 9 — The Cabinet was furnished with all the “clinical facts” on SRC International Sdn Bhd when it considered the company’s applications for government guarantees between 2011 and 2012, the High Court was told today.
The information included the fact that SRC International was a newly set up company with a RM1 million capital and that it had no existing track record, the Finance Ministry’s Loan Management, Financial Market and Actuary Division former secretary Datuk Maliami Hamad said under cross-examination by Najib’s lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.
Maliami also said that a memo to the Cabinet on SRC International’s application for a second government guarantee in February 2012 also included the fact that the company had previously obtained a RM2 billion loan from the Retirement Fund Incorporated (KWAP) the previous year.
Muhammad Shafee: Would you agree that in the preparation of the Cabinet memorandum, the clinical facts presented in the memorandum, there was no deceit to mislead the Cabinet?
Maliami: Yes, correct.
Muhammad Shafee: And the memo for second government guarantee also had an additional fact, which mentions that the company had previously taken an RM2 billion loan, and that if this second guarantee is given, it will become RM4 billion? And this was explained to the Cabinet clearly?
Maliami: Correct.
Maliami previously testified in court that his department subordinate Afidah Azwa Abdul Aziz had prepared Cabinet memoranda on the government guarantees in August 2011 and February 2012 to be presented for the Cabinet’s consideration.
Afidah Azwa — the strategic investment department deputy secretary in the Finance Ministry — was the prosecution's 41st witness.
Maliami is the 43rd prosecution witness of Najib’s ongoing trial involving 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 granted a total of RM4 billion in loans in August 2011 and March 2012 to SRC International, with money allegedly flowing through other companies before being transferred into Najib’s accounts.
The hearing before High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali resumes at 9am tomorrow.
*A previous version of this story contained an error which has since been corrected.
