KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 10 — A former Malaysian ambassador said he has never heard of donations between heads of state being returned to their original sender, the High Court heard during Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s RM42 million SRC International Sdn Bhd corruption trial today.
Former Malaysian ambassador to Saudi Arabia Datuk Syed Omar Al Saggaf said this under cross-examination by ad hoc prosecutor Datuk V. Sithambaram as the third defence witness in Najib’s RM42 million SRC International corruption trial.
Syed Omar had previously helmed the ambassador post in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia between September 2008 and September 2013 following his appointment by then prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Sithambaram: I give you a donation, do they expect you to return a donation?
Syed Omar: So far as long as I know, I didn’t know about that, but I never heard there is a return.
Sithambaram: You never heard there is such thing as returning the donation that has been given?
Syed Omar: Ya.
Najib has maintained throughout his trial that multiple transactions amounting to RM3.2 billion from 2011 to 2013 were Saudi royal family donations.
He said he believed the funds, which originated from senders identified as Prince Faisal Turki, Blackstone Real Estate Partner and Tanore Finance Corp, were part of donations from Saudi ruler King Abdullah Abdulaziz Al-Saud.
Najib also testified that he returned the money because he was not comfortable with a large sum lying in his bank account, fearing that if such information were leaked, it would be manipulated out of context politically.
When asked further whether he knew the full donation amount to which King Abdullah had given to Malaysia, Syed Omar replied in the negative.
Later, Syed Omar said he did not know whether a prime minister leading the government receiving donations purported for election purposes amounted to foreign interference in the country’s domestic affairs.
Sithambaram: I am just going to put to you. I am putting it to you, I am putting it to you that if the prime minister leading the government received donations for election purposes, then it would be interference of foreign government to our internal affairs?
Syed Omar: I didn’t know that.
Sithambaram: You have in your statement clearly stated that the money given by King Abdullah is for assisting the prime minister to win the election. Is it correct?
Syed Omar: I just know that the King is going to help. After that what has happened, I don’t know.
Earlier in his witness statement, Syed Omar recalled how King Abdullah had praised Malaysia’s administration that practised moderate Islam and expressed worry at the political upheavals in other Islamic countries which led to the Arab Spring.
He said King Abdullah subsequently offered his assistance to “ensure” the same administration continued to rule Malaysia, lest the Arab Spring effect spread to South-east Asia.
The offer, according to Syed Omar, was made during an informal meeting which had taken place at King Abdullah’s palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on January 11, 2010.
During re-examination by Najib’s lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, Syed Omar said it was Najib who told him of King Abdullah’s promised offer.
Najib is currently on trial over seven charges related to SRC International.
Three are for criminal breach of trust over a total RM42 million of SRC International funds while entrusted with its control as the prime minister and finance minister then, three more are for laundering the RM42 million, and the last is for abusing the same positions for self-gratification of the same sum.
