It's unbelievable how Najib can turn blind eye to millions deposited into his accounts - DPP

PUTRAJAYA: It was totally unbelievable how former premier Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak can turn a blind eye when millions of ringgit were being deposited into his personal bank accounts, the Federal Court heard today.

Ad hoc prosecutor Datuk V. Sithambaram said with the continuous flow of large amounts of money into his bank accounts, Najib Najib ought to have at least made enquiries as to the source and legality of those funds.

"Turning a blind eye to millions (of ringgit) being deposited into his accounts on the sole reason that the management of his bank accounts had been delegated to the former SRC chief executive officer Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil and that for five years he did not personally know the balance in his accounts was completely and totally unbelievable."

The deputy public prosecutor (DPP) said this in his submissions before a five-member bench led by Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat.

The other judges on the bench are Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim and Federal Court judges Datuk Nallini Pathmanathan, Datuk Mary Lim Thiam Suan and Datuk Mohamad Zabidin Mohd.

Sithambaram said Najib purportedly relied on (his then private secretary) the late Datuk Azlin Alias to know if he could issue his cheques.

"The appellant blatantly refused to acknowledge that he knew his account balance as that would impute his knowledge of the RM42 million deposit into his personal bank accounts.

"Najib never testified as to whether he did enquire from Azlin, Nik Faisal or even fugitive businessman Low Teik Jho or Jho Low as to the sources of the funds in his accounts which he was happy to spend without question," he said.

Sithambaram submitted that even when the source of the funds in Najib's accounts became the subject matter of official investigations by the relevant authorities, he continued to remain passive and did not even attempt to lodge any police reports on the funds deposited.

"When he was told that the funds were from SRC, he again did not do anything," he said.

On the so-called Arab donations, Sithambaram said the Pekan MP had vehemently argued that the money in his personal accounts originated from the Saudi royalty.

However, he said the trial judge had fittingly found that the Arab donation story was unbelievable when weighed against the totality of the evidence.

Touching on the issue of knowledge, he said Najib himself had admitted that the money came from SRC.

This, he said, was affirmed by Najib in an affidavit filed in his lawsuit against former MCA president Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik in 2016.

Therefore, he said it was clear that Najib had deliberately lied when he said that he did not know the source of the funds when asked about it during the SRC trial.

The prosecution closed its submissions and the proceedings continue on Tuesday.

-- BERNAMA