Former Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd managing director Dr Shamsul Anwar Sulaiman said he spoke to Najib on the phone sometime in July 2015 after The Wall Street Journal published an article that alleged funds from SRC International Sdn Bhd entered his accounts.
SRC International is a former subsidiary of 1MDB.
Shamsul said he was informed by Ung Su Ling, the then CEO of Yayasan Rakyat 1Malaysia, and Dennis See, the then project manager, to execute the transfers into the bank accounts.
However, Shamsul, who previously testified in Najib’s SRC International case, said he did not know who the account holders were.
“(At that time) I believed that these payments were for CSR (corporate social responsibility) work.
“From his (Najib’s) reaction, it appeared to me that he was taken aback and I distinctly heard him muttering ‘my God’ under his breath,” he said, testifying for Najib’s defence.
Shamsul also told the court he was never part of a group, which included fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, that drafted a letter claiming that the Arab royal family had donated funds to Najib.
He also denied being in a hotel in London in 2015 with Low, former 1MDB general counsel Jasmine Loo, and one of Low’s aides, Kee Kok Thiam, to discuss drafting the “donation” letter.
“Jasmine’s testimony that I was present is false and fabricated,” he said, adding it was likely part of her agenda.
Court tells lawyers to avoid making press statements in ongoing trial
Earlier today, deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib informed the court that Najib’s lawyers had issued a media statement last week about the ongoing trial.
Akram said the lawyers had commented on the testimony by former investigating officer R Rajagopal, and that their action was “improper”.
“Rajagopal has not completed his testimony and is scheduled to return tomorrow (for cross-examination),” he said, urging the court to issue a warning to the defence.
In response, lawyer Shafee Abdullah alleged that news reports on the 1MDB trial were “one sided”, and insisted that there was nothing wrong with their media statement.
“… unless it was the witnesses (Shahrol, Loo and Azmi) who were worried and complained (to the prosecution),” he said.
He also claimed that the government was being unfair to Najib in his judicial review case on the house arrest addendum.
Akram dismissed Shafee’s claims, adding that there was no need to drag in the house arrest issue.
Trial judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah said the court did not wish to dwell into similar matters again.
“Perhaps, after all that has been said and done, what we can work towards is to avoid making press statements about what witnesses said before they complete their testimonies,” he said.
Najib is standing trial on 25 counts of money laundering and abuse of power over alleged 1MDB funds amounting to RM2.28 billion deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.
The hearing continues tomorrow.