KUALA LUMPUR, July 9 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak had signed a draft memo prepared to place SRC International Sdn Bhd under the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MoF Inc) at a military airbase in February 2012.
Datuk Mat Noor Nawi, former Treasury deputy secretary-general (Policy), testified that Najib had signed the draft document prepared by him at the Subang Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) airbase on February 3, 2012.
“He (Najib) read the draft...each paragraph...every page and to my surprise, signed the draft copy on the first page where he agreed to the suggestion to place SRC International under MoF Inc,” he said during examination-in-chief by deputy public prosecutor Datuk Suhaimi Ibrahim.
Prior to the transfer of ownership, SRC International was a wholly-owned subsidiary of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
SRC International was officially placed under MoF Inc on February 14, 2012.
Mat Noor, who is the prosecution’s 44th witness in the trial, said the draft memo carried neither the Finance Ministry letterhead nor his letterhead.
Asked to explain how the draft memo was prepared, Mat Noor said SRC International chief executive Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil’s aide and 1MDB officer, Zahid Taib had contacted him on Feb 2, 2012, saying Najib wanted to see the draft at 8am the next day.
“When I got a call from Zahid, he informed that the prime minister wanted to see the draft letter and he asked MoF Inc to submit its draft.
“I then instructed MoF Inc to prepare the said draft on February 2 and it was then submitted to me for the PM’s viewing.
“This (draft) letter did not have my letterhead and the official stamp of the prime minister and finance minister,” he explained.
Mat Noor also said Najib signed the draft memo on the bonnet of his car when he met with the former prime minister at the airbase’s waiting area.
“I exited the waiting area and went to the car and showed the draft memo to him while standing beside the car.
“After perusing four pages of the draft, Najib made a note on the first page of the document on the bonnet. There he signed the memo and Zahid Taib was just standing next to me but towards the rear,” he said.
According to Mat Noor, Zahid was the government liaison officer between 1MDB and the Finance Ministry.
Mat Noor said he later met with Najib’s private secretary Datuk Sheikh Mohd Fuzi to get the document officially stamped by the prime minister and the finance minister by handing over both original copy without the letterhead and the other with the letterhead.
He explained that he needed to submit two separate documents as the earlier draft version cannot be officially filed because it does not have his letterhead.
“Both versions of the document — without the letterhead and with the letterhead — are kept in our files.” Mat Noor added.
Meanwhile he also considered Najib’s decision to sign a letter dated January 9, 2012, a “top-down” decision-making process as it was written by SRC International and addressed to Najib as the prime minister.
The letter prepared by Nik Faisal indicated, among others, that SRC International was to be placed under MoF Inc.
“When the PM minuted the letter with ‘I agree with the suggestion’, then we will just execute the decision and formalised the whole process.
“I categorise this as in the second category as the prime minister has indicated that he agrees with the matter and Nik Faisal wrote in the letter that he was writing in on the PM’s advice.
“Nik Faisal may have very likely discussed and obtained verbal agreement from the then PM before SRC International wrote the letter,” he explained.
The second category referred to the top-down order.
In normal circumstances, Mat Noor explained that companies which desired to be subjected under MoF Inc must make a formal application with the MoF Inc preparing the necessary documents for the deliberation of the Treasury secretary-general.
“The decision will then be carried forward to the second finance minister and if necessary, brought to the finance minister’s attention.
For SRC International’s case, Mat Noor said he categorised it the opposite as the company sent its request directly to the prime minister.
“Once it is approved by the prime minister, we forget the procedure and just execute the decision,” he said at one point during the cross examination by Najib’s lawyer Harvinderjit Singh.
“Once it is approved by the prime minister, we forget the procedure and just execute the decision,” he says.
To his knowledge, Mat Noor said there was no due diligence conducted on the transfer of SRC International from 1MDB to MoF Inc throughout his stint as deputy secretary-general of the Treasury.
During cross-examination by Najib’s lawyer Harvinderjit Singh, Mat Noor also said he was unaware that he was appointed SRC International’s advisor by Najib until he received a letter that formalised his appointment.
He later admitted that the one-page appointment letter was nowhere to be found as his position changed frequently throughout his career and the letter may have been lost in transition.
Mat Noor is the 44th 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.
The hearing before High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali resumes at 9am tomorrow.
