Former SRC International director Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi, 54, said no due diligence was carried out as the directors’ circular resolution was signed and approved by Najib Razak, who was the prime minister and finance minister at the time.
Shahrol said this when testifying as a third party in SRC International’s US$1.18 billion (RM5.65 billion) civil suit against Najib and former SRC International CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil.
“I felt I was under obligation from the instruction of the prime minister. I would have preferred for (more) information to be available, but I went ahead and signed it.
“It wasn’t only an instruction. It was signed by the prime minister, finance minister and shareholder of 1MDB, so that carried a lot of weight.
“We tried to find as much information as we could, but when it came to execution, the prime minister signed off … so we had to do it. The prime minister thought it was a good idea, I trusted his judgment,” said the witness when queried by Najib’s counsel, Harvinderjit Singh.
The loan was transferred to Falcon Private Bank Ltd in Switzerland and Julius Baer in Hong Kong. It was to be used to acquire two companies in Indonesia (PT ABM Investama and Bumi Resources TBk PT) and two companies in Mongolia (Gobi Coal and Energy Limited and Erdens-Tavan Tolgoi).
In the SRC International criminal trial in 2019, former SRC chairman Ismee Ismail testified that Nik Faisal was ordered by Najib to transfer the money out in a meeting on Sept 7, 2011.
Under its new management, SRC International filed a suit in May 2021 claiming that Najib had committed breach of trust and abuse of power, personally benefitting from the company’s funds and misappropriating the said funds.
It is also seeking a court declaration that Najib is responsible for the company’s losses due to his breach of duties and trust, and for Najib to pay back the RM42 million in losses that they have suffered.
Najib, 70, has been serving a jail sentence at Kajang Prison since Aug 23, 2022, after being convicted of misappropriating RM42 million in SRC International funds.
He filed a petition for a royal pardon on Sept 2, 2022, and the Federal Territories Pardons Board in January this year reduced Najib’s jail term from 12 years to six, with the fine cut to RM50 million from RM210 million.
The hearing before Justice Ahmad Fairuz Zainol Abidin continues on May 6.