Ismee Ismail, who was re-examined by ad hoc prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram, agreed with this after he was shown several charts that illustrated the flow of money through a layering process.
During cross-examination by Najib’s lawyers earlier, the 13th prosecution witness had said that the former prime minister did not benefit from the projects and loans taken by 1MDB.
Sri Ram: It was put to you (by the defence) that the accused did not benefit or it was done for the benefit of the nation. Would you like to review that answer?
Ismee: Yes, from the charts, some of the funds went into Najib’s accounts.
During today’s proceedings in the High Court, Sri Ram said RM60.6 million went into Najib’s accounts at AmIslamic bank here between February and June 2011 in two transactions.
He said the money was from a take-up of RM5 billion in Islamic bonds issued by the Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA) state sovereign fund, which later became 1MDB.
Sri Ram said this money came from Good Star Ltd, a company believed to have been owned by fugitive financier Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low.
Another RM90.8 million from 1MDB Energy Ltd first went to Aabar Investments PJS Ltd (BVI) and then to Blackstone Asia, a company controlled by Low through his associate, Tan Kim Loong, who is also known as Eric Tan.
Sri Ram said the RM90.8 million went into Najib’s accounts between October and November 2012 in two transactions.
Between March and April 2013, he said, RM2.08 billion (the US$681 million) was deposited into the former prime minister’s accounts via Tanore Finance Corp.
Lastly, he said, another RM49.9 million went into Najib’s accounts in 2014.
Ismee was a director of 1MDB between 2009 and 2016 and chief executive officer of Lembaga Tabung Haji during the same period.
Sri Ram also asked the witness what the 1MDB board’s attitude was when instructions came from Najib.
“I thought it would be good, especially for a joint venture between 1MDB and PetroSaudi International (PSI), especially when I was Tabung Haji CEO,” he said.
He said he had a high level of trust in Najib at that time, and that was why he did not resign from the 1MDB board as was done by its then chairman, Bakke Salleh, in 2009.
Najib is standing trial on 25 charges of money laundering and abuse of power over 1MDB funds amounting to RM2.28 billion allegedly deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.
The hearing before High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues.