PUTRAJAYA, Feb 12 — Former minister Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom today claimed that the late Saudi ruler King Abdullah had promised to personally make donations to Malaysia’s then prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s personal bank account, and claimed he had heard this private discussion between the two national leaders.
Testifying as the seventh defence witness in Najib’s 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) trial, Jamil Khir described King Abdullah and Najib as having interacted like a father and son during their 2010 meeting.
In this trial, Najib has claimed that funds totalling RM2 billion which entered his private AmIslamic bank accounts were not 1MDB’s money, and has insisted that he believed those money were sent to him as donations from Saudi Arabia.
Jamil Khir said Najib was attending an unofficial meeting with King Abdullah at the latter’s palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on January 11, 2010, where Najib had conveyed Malaysia’s request for financial assistance or donation from Saudi Arabia.
After the discussion between King Abdullah and Najib in the presence of the Malaysian delegation, Jamil Khir said he saw the Saudi ruler leading Najib away from the meeting area and chatting while walking towards the middle of the hall.
Jamil Khir said Najib had signalled for him to follow and be part of that private discussion. Those in that private discussion were King Abdullah, Najib and the Saudi ruler’s interpreter.
Jamil Khir said he followed them at arms’ length and that he was standing slightly behind Najib, but claimed he was still within distance to hear the two leaders’ conversation and the translated conversation.
“This private conversation’s content covered King Abdullah giving financial contribution to the former prime minister of Malaysia,” he told the High Court today, adding that he believed King Abdullah had several reasons including to ensure Malaysia’s continued stability as a moderate Islamic nation by strengthening Najib’s position as prime minister in the upcoming 2013 elections.
“If not mistaken, King Abdullah also mentioned that he will send this financial contribution not long after the meeting’s date and said this fund would be channelled to a personal account of Datuk Seri Mohd Najib due to certain reasons.
“I understand the necessity for this fund to be channelled to Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s personal account to facilitate and smoothen Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s political journey and also King Abdullah was worried that channelling directly to any entity or political organisation would complicate the way the funds are spent,” Jamil Khir said.
Jamil Khir also claimed that King Abdullah and Najib appeared to be close.
“Besides what I heard, which is King Abdullah wishes to make a financial contribution personally to Datuk Seri Najib, what I observed during their conversation is their ‘keakraban’ (closeness),” he said, citing as example how King Abdullah had held Najib’s hand while they were heading towards the middle of the hall together.
“I consider that the way they walked, talked and interacted with each other, it looked like the way a father interacts with his son,” he said.
Previously on January 10, Najib had as his own defence witness in the 1MDB trial testified however that the Malaysian delegation’s members such as Jamil Khir could not have heard his private discussion with King Abdullah, as the two of them were located further away from them while being in the same room.
Quizzed by deputy public prosecutor Kamal Baharin Omar, Jamil Khir said Najib never told Cabinet that he had received donations from Saudi ruler King Abdullah, but disagreed that Najib should have informed Cabinet.
“I say no need, because this is not funds for the country, and was personal account and funds for politics,” Jamil Khir said, arguing that Najib’s use of the money to pay for speechwriting services for himself as the prime minister could be covered under political funds.
Later when asked by Najib’s lead defence lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, Jamil Khir said he believed Najib did not need to declare the alleged “political donation” to Cabinet, as political donations do not need to involve the government and do not have to be informed to Cabinet.
Asked by Shafee to confirm that it was also a “personal donation” to Najib, Jamil Khir said: “That’s why, if I’m not mistaken, he mentioned that donation is for personal.”
Among other things, Jamil Khir told Shafee that he had clearly heard King Abdullah talking about both Saudi Arabia’s donations and about the plans to send it to Najib’s personal accounts, and that this was at the middle of the meeting hall.
Jamil Khir told Kamal Baharin that King Abdullah did not say how much he would be giving Najib, and also said he did not know when Najib started receiving such alleged funds from Saudi Arabia.
Jamil Khir asserted that Najib had later used the purported donations from Saudi Arabia for purposes such as giving funds to Kedah Umno, but told Kamal Baharin that he did not feel there was a need for him to check if the funds really came from Saudi donations and did not know the first batch of funds only came in February 2011.
Today, Jamil Khir also explained how it was possible for him to have been in both Putrajaya, Malaysia and in Saudi Arabia for the unofficial meeting between Najib and King Abdullah on the same day on January 11, 2010.
Jamil Khir said he was present as the religious affairs minister for an event at the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) at 8am until 10am, and that he had then left for the airport to fly straight to Saudi Arabia on a flight that typically takes eight hours.
Jamil Khir said that a five-hour time difference between Saudi Arabia and Malaysia meant that he had arrived in Saudi Arabia at around 3pm local time, and that he could make it to the unofficial meeting in Saudi Arabia that was held at around 7pm or 8pm at Saudi time.
Najib’s 1MDB trial before trial judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah resumes tomorrow.
