Third day of Najib’s trial introduces third witness and shady bank transactions

Former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak resumed his third day trial (April 16) after a brief adjournment due to a photocopying mishap the day before.

The third day started off with defence counsel Harvinderjit Singh picking up the previous cross-examination of second witness Bank Negara Investigation Officer Azizul Adzani Abdul Ghafar.

Azizul was part of the team during the raid at Jalan Raja Chulan’s Ambank, to recover documented accounts related to Najib. He testified that a second team raided the bank, but was uncertain about their goal and what they recovered.

Further questioning reveals Azizul received orders to retrieve documents indicating specific transactions, amounts between RM5 million to RM40 million per transaction. The documents were handed over by Ambank Raja Chulan branch manager R Uma Devi.

Specifics of the transactions were revealed, among them are documents listing the bank accounts opened for Najib, SRC International, and Gandingan Mentari. The details are below, sourced from MalaysiaKini.

After a lunch break, the defence assumed their position to cross-examine Azizul. It is revealed that Azizul had also filed a police report as a part of his protocol after recovering the files. Azizul was released from the stand shortly.

Next, prosecution brought in a third witness, Mohammad Nizam Yahya. The 39-year-old witness is an analyst at the Financial Intelligence Department of Bank Negara. He began with an examination by Deputy Public Prosecutor Suhaimi Ibrahim. Nizam confirmed that he received a notice to hand over the bank documents referenced above.

For the context, Wall Street Journal released documents revealing the money trail of SRC International leading to Gandingan Mentari, which led RM32 million transferred from two tranches, RM 5 million and RM 27 million, into Najib’s private bank accounts.

The testament was solidified with a remittance application form from Affin Bank, and both transactions were detailed as “Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme”.

Nizam is set to be cross-examined by Najib’s defence team the next day. Harvinderjit had also requested Nizam to bring documents seized in the raids related to Ihsan Perdana’s three bank accounts with Affin Bank.