During cross-examination by lawyer Wan Azwan Aiman Wan Fakhruddin, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officer Nur Aida Arifin said payments were made to Good Star Ltd between 2009 and 2011.
Wan Azwan: Did Najib instruct the 1MDB management, which included its then CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi, to send the money in two tranches?
Aida: No.
Wan Azwan: But, was the management responsible for allowing the US$1.03 billion to be remitted to Good Star?
Aida: Yes, based on documents.
Wan Azwan: Do you agree that Najib did not instruct any of the top management in 1MDB to transfer US$1.03 billion to Good Star?
Aida: Yes.
According to the evidence given by Shahrol and Aida, the money was sent to a bank account of Good Star, which had no link to a joint venture between 1MDB and PetroSaudi International Ltd.
In its opening statement, the prosecution claimed that 1MDB entered into a joint venture agreement with PetroSaudi, under which the fund was required to contribute US$1 billion, equivalent to 40% of the equity in the project.
However, only US$300 million was paid to the joint venture, with the remaining US$700 million diverted to Good Star in September 2009.
In September 2010, 1MDB sent another US$500 million to the joint-venture account, while in May and October 2011, the company remitted US$330 million to Good Star.
The prosecution said the purported oil and gas joint venture was a scam because US$1.83 billion was not utilised as originally intended.
However, today, Aida said the money trail revealed that US$10 million from the US$500 million went into Najib’s bank accounts.
The prosecution’s 49th witness claimed Najib was in cahoots with Low to steal millions of ringgit from 1MDB, and described Low as Najib’s mirror image.
Najib’s defence is that he believed all the money that was deposited into his accounts were donations from the Saudi royal family.
His other defence is that Low, the 1MDB board of directors and senior management colluded to plunder the state sovereign fund.
Najib is facing 25 charges of abuse of power and money laundering over RM2.28 billion of 1MDB funds deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.
The trial before Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues.