KUALA LUMPUR: Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak (pix) could never possibly be too ignorant about his personal bank account that he has never once questioned or sued his bank despite having received RM42 million in it, the High Court today heard.
Citing the quote ‘’willful ignorance is no longer a bliss’’, Attorney-General Tan Sri Tommy Thomas pointed out that the former premier, as the bank account holder should have been more vigilant about his account to ensure such huge amount of proceeds did not come from any unlawful activity.
Replying to Najib’s defence counsel Harvinderjit Singh’s submission during earlier proceeding, Thomas said such activity could constitute to a serious offence.
Thomas said, the banker-customer law was stringent that customers had contractual and legal obligation to check his monthly bank statement within a reasonable period, to say the bank had wrongly deposited the account.
“Please, the accused has to explain, with that salary, has RM42 million transferred into his account. Plenty of cheques issued from AmBank, is it not significant that not a single cheque bounced? Isn’t that remarkable?
“For someone who said I don’t know what is happening to my account? For someone who earned less than RM1 million per year, received RM42 million, spent it on plenty of cheques, never questioned his bank, never sued his bank, his defence must be called,” Thomas said.
Earlier, Thomas had argued RM4 billion was borrowed by the strategic resource company but they (SRC) were unable to repay the loan to Retirement Fund Inc. (KWAP) which caused the company to obtain another RM550 million of short term loan from Ministry of Finance.
The loan however, Thomas said, as testified by a witness in SRC International trial was never brought up in cabinet meetings and the company never took steps to recover the money.
“RM4 billion was borrowed and was not repaid. The government guarantee couldn’t be called yet the government lends more money. Who approved this? The accused,“ said Thomas.
Najib, 66, is facing three counts of criminal breach of trust, one count of abusing his position and three counts of money laundering involving SRC International Sdn Bhd funds amounting to RM42 million.
The hearing of submissions before judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali continues tomorrow. — Bernama
