KUALA LUMPUR, July 16 — The transfers of RM42 million from Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd (IPSB) into Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s bank accounts were facilitated by a former Yayasan Rakyat 1Malaysia (YR1M) chief executive on orders from Najib’s ex-aide in 2014 and 2015, the High Court heard today.

YR1M former chief executive Ung Su Ling said she gave IPSB’s chief executive Datuk Dr Shamsul Anwar Sulaiman the details of the receipient account and the amount to be transferred.

She said these were provided by Najib’s ex-aide, the late Datuk Azlin Alias.

At the time of the transfers, Azlin and Najib both sat on YR1M's board of trustees along with former 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) chairman Tan Sri Lodin Wok Kamarudin and special officer at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Datuk Wan Shihab Wan Ismail.

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She explained that the three fund transfers for corporate social responsibility (CSR) purposes were made in tranches of RM27 million, RM5 million and RM10 million.

“In September 2014, I had gone to Azlin’s office at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to discuss YR1M matters as the latter’s office was located there.

“During our meeting, Azlin informed me that a sum of money will be transferred to IPSB’s account but I was not told of the amount and transfer date,” she said.

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Three months later, Ung said Azlin informed her through WhatsApp that an unspecified sum was banked into IPSB’s account.

“I was then instructed to inform IPSB’s CEO to transfer RM27 million and RM5 million to two accounts in AmBank of which I was provided with the account number and name,” she said.

Ung said Azlin again contacted her through WhatsApp in February 2015 for the same purpose, this time specifying RM10 million.

Former Yayasan Rakyat 1Malaysia (YR1M) chief executive Ung Su Ling leaves the Kuala Lumpur Court Complex July 16, 2019. — Picture by Mukhriz Hazim
Former Yayasan Rakyat 1Malaysia (YR1M) chief executive Ung Su Ling leaves the Kuala Lumpur Court Complex July 16, 2019. — Picture by Mukhriz Hazim

However, she said deleted Azlin’s phone number and WhatsApp messages following his death in April 2015.

For both occasions, Ung said she relayed Azlin’s instructions to Dr Shamsul Anwar through email in December 2014 and WhatsApp in February 2015.

She said she did not know who owned the accounts and that they were only identified by their numbers under the name of AmPrivate Banking-MY and AmPrivate Banking-1MY.

Ung’s statements matched a previous prosecution witness’s testimony — IPSB chief executive Datuk Dr Shamsul Anwar Sulaiman — in which the latter confirmed in court that he approved money transfers totalling RM42 million from IPSB into bank accounts belonging to Najib.

It was previously revealed in court that a total of RM42 million from IPSB made its way into two personal accounts of Najib (2112022011-880 and 2112022011-906) between December 2014 and February 2015, in three tranches of RM27 million, RM5 million, and RM10 million.

Both account-880 and account-906 opened at AmBank Jalan Raja Chulan branch were registered under Najib.

Ung also said the RM42 million did not belong to YR1M.

During examination-in-chief, Ung confirmed her communications with AmBank relationship manager Joanna Yu regarding the RM42 million transfers after being shown a nine-page transcript of a BlackBerry Messenger chat between them.

“Our account for YR1M in AmBank, she (Joanna) was the relationship manager, facilitating the opening of the accounts, and the transaction,” said Ung, adding that she had known Yu since January 2013.

When asked why she had to clarify the details of account names and account numbers with Yu, Ung said both accounts provided to her were similar.

“One was MY and one was 1MY so I wanted the names to match with the right number,” she said.

Previously, witnesses have confirmed that Yu was also the relationship manager for Najib’s AmBank bank accounts.

However, Ung said she did not know Yu was the relationship manager for Najib’s account at the time of the RM42 million transfer.

Ung is the prosecution’s 49th witness in Najib’s ongoing trial on alleged abuse of position, money-laundering and criminal breach of trust over RM42 million of funds from SRC International Sdn Bhd, a former subsidiary of 1MDB.

Hearing was adjourned earlier today following the court’s decision to allow the Pekan MP to attend Parliament for the debate and expected voting on a constitutional change to lower the voting age from 21 to 18.

The hearing before High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali resumes at 9am tomorrow.