Cheah Tek Kuang said his meeting with Najib took place at the latter’s Langgak Duta home in early 2011.
“I didn’t ask what the purpose of the money was.
“(Najib) mentioned that the incoming money would be a contribution from the Saudi Arabian government to him for ‘Islamic activities’,” he said, adding that the meeting only lasted five minutes.
Prior to the Langgak Duta meeting, Cheah said Joanna Yu, the bank’s relationship manager, handed him application forms for the former prime minister to sign.
“Joanna said that she didn’t want to meet (Najib) directly because she felt that she was not at the same level as him.
“In fact, I, too, felt the same as Joanna. I had a supervisor above me,” Cheah said, referring to the bank’s former chairman, Azman Hashim.
The witness told the court that he met Azman immediately after he spoke to Joanna.
“Azman refused to meet the prime minister (Najib) and told me to attend to him. I had no choice but to go,” Cheah said.
After that meeting, Cheah said he went to meet then Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz. He told Zeti that Najib was expecting US$100 million from Saudi Arabia.
“It was important to inform her because the account holder was a ‘politically exposed person’.
“She took note of the matter and said the banking rules and regulations must be complied with,” he added.
After meeting Zeti, Cheah said he handed over Najib’s account management matters to Joanna and Ross Foden, the bank’s then chief operating officer.
“They suggested a special code name – ‘AmPrivate Banking MR’ – to avoid any information leak.
“I am not sure if (Najib) was informed about the code name,” he said.
Cheah told the court that he was never involved in any operational matters relating to the accounts after those meetings.
Najib is standing trial on 25 charges of abuse of power and money laundering over alleged 1MDB funds amounting to RM2.28 billion deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.
The former prime minister was present in court today.
The hearing continues before judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah tomorrow.