Former director Ismee Ismail, 59, agreed to a suggestion by Najib’s lead counsel Shafee Abdullah that the company’s former CEO, Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, was a chartered accountant from a good family background.

Ismee is testifying as a third-party respondent in SRC International’s US$1.18 billion (RM5.24 billion) civil suit against Najib and Nik Faisal, who is currently at large.

Ismee also agreed to a suggestion from Shafee that Najib did not know any of the board members personally and did not hire “puppets” to be on the board, despite having the sole power to appoint, according to Article 117 of SRC’s memorandum.

Shafee: If Najib wanted the board members to be “puppets”, with him as the puppet master, he would not have chosen such qualified members who can think for themselves and have high qualifications. Is that a fair statement?

Ismee: Yes, it is a fair statement.

The trial before Justice Ahmad Fairuz Zainol Abidin resumes on Sept 17 with Najib set to testify.

Under a new management, SRC International filed the suit in May 2021 claiming that Najib had committed a breach of trust and abuse of power, personally benefitted from the company’s funds and misappropriated the same.

SRC International previously removed five of its directors from the lawsuit, including Ismee, retaining Najib as the sole defendant.

However, the High Court later granted Najib permission to issue third-party notices against them.

SRC International is seeking a court declaration that Najib is responsible for the company’s losses and that he should compensate the company for the RM42 million in losses it incurred.