The five former directors are Ismee Ismail, Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi, Suboh Md Yasin, Azhar Osman Khairuddin and Che Abdullah @ Rashidi Che Omar.

They were initially named as defendants along with Najib and former SRC International CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, with SRC International seeking US$1.18 billion in damages from all of them.

However, the five men were dropped from the suit, while judgment in default was obtained against Nik Faisal.

Today, Justice Ahmad Fairuz Zainol Abidin granted leave to Najib and directed that the third party notices be served on the five men within 14 days after SRC International’s lawyer, Thenesh Anbalagan, told the court that his client had no objection against their issuance.

Lawyer Harvinderjit Singh, appearing for the former prime minister, said the notices will be served next week.

In its suit, SRC International had claimed that Najib and the company’s former directors had committed various breaches of trust and duty, had wrongfully received company property, and had dishonestly and wrongfully conspired to commit conversion of company property.

SRC International claimed that Najib, as the adviser emeritus and leader of the government, gave the company the go-ahead to secure loans of RM4 billion from Retirement Fund Incorporated (KWAP) in 2011 and 2012, with the bulk of the funds transferred overseas and not recovered.

Najib’s criminal conviction by the Kuala Lumpur High Court in his RM42 million SRC International case was upheld by the Court of Appeal in December last year and by the Federal Court in August this year.

He is currently serving a 12-year jail sentence in Kajang prison.