She said due diligence required to be carried out on the legitimacy of funds entering into customers’ accounts lies with the banks and other financial institutions, adding that this is the practice worldwide.

“They are required to lodge a suspicious transaction report (STR) within three days after they have identified irregular activities in an account.

“BNM will then inform the law enforcement authorities like MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission) or police. We cannot inform anyone else, including the account holder,” she said.

She said that if a bank fails to file a STR over any irregular activities, the central bank will impose a penalty against it.

Zeti said BNM officers conducted a raid at AmBank on July 6, 2015, where they found out that the bank had omitted reporting several transactions of funds into Najib’s account.

“They falsely reported that funds went into ‘an account’, when they went into Datuk Seri’s (Najib’s) account,” she said.

In 2015, it was reported that AmBank had paid a RM53.7 million penalty to BNM over non-compliance with certain regulations.

Deputy public prosecutor Kamal Bahrin Omar asked Zeti if Najib raised any questions on the source of funds that went into his four accounts.

“He did not,” Zeti said.

Najib is standing trial on 25 charges of abuse of power and money laundering of alleged 1MDB funds of RM2.28 billion deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.

The hearing before Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues.