KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here was told today that the RM42 million deposited into two bank accounts belonging to former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak by Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd (IPSB) in 2014 and 2015 did not belong to the 1Malaysia People’s Foundation (YR1M).
Former YR1M chief executive officer Ung Su Ling, 50, said she was told by Najib’s former private secretary, Datuk Azlin Alias (now deceased), to instruct former IPSB chief executive officer Datuk Dr Shamsul Anwar Sulaiman to transfer the money into two accounts at AmIslamic Bank Berhad .
The 49th prosecution witness said she was told the money was for corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes.
“Referring to the money of RM27 million, RM5 million and RM10 million, involving a total of RM42 million, I confirm the money did not belong to YR1M,” she said when reading out her witness statement on the 38th day of Najib’s trial for misappropriation of SRC International Sdn Bhd (SRC) funds totalling RM42 million.
Ung said she received the instruction on the transfer of RM42 million into IPSB’s bank account from Azlin at a meeting to discuss YR1M matters at the Prime Minister’s Office in Putrajaya.
“While there, Datuk Azlin told me that a certain amount of money will be transferred into a bank account belonging to IPSB, but the amount and date were not told to me. I was only informed that the money was for CSR.
“Datuk Azlin then asked for my assistance to inform Datuk Shamsul Anwar where the money should be transferred to. I agreed to help Datuk Azlin when the time came,” she added.
Ung said that in December 2014, she was instructed by Azlin to send a message through Whatsapp to Dr Shamsul Anwar to transfer RM27 million and RM5 million separately into two bank accounts at Ambank.
However, she said she did not keep the details in her handphone as she deleted them after Azlin died.
Ung said based on the information received from Azlin, she sent an email to Dr Shamsul about the money transfer, involving two transactions, namely RM27 million which was transferred from IPSB’s account to an account number 211–202–201188–0 under the name AmPrivate Banking–1MY, and RM5 million to an account number 211–202–201190–6 under the name AmPrivate Banking – MY.
Ung said that in early February 2015, Azlin contacted her again through Whatsapp to inform her that a certain amount of money had been transferred into IPSB’s account and she was instructed to tell Shamsul Anwar to transfer RM10 million into an account at Ambank.
“I then informed Datuk Shamsul Anwar, also through Whatsapp, to transfer RM10 million to an AmIslamic Bank Berhad account number 211–202–201188–0 under the name AmPrivate Banking–1MY,” she added.
She also said that at 5.23pm on Feb 9, 2015, she received an email from former IPSB senior account executive Aishah Ghazali informing her that the form for the money transfer had been prepared and she then forwarded the email to former Ambank liaison manager Joanna Yu.
Prior to this, witnesses had testified that three transactions of money transfer, totalling RM42 million, were made into two accounts belonging to Najib at AmIslamic Bank Berhad by IPSB for CSR programmes.
One of the witnesses, Ambank manager at the Jalan Raja Chulan branch, R. Uma Devi, confirmed the two bank accounts belonged to Najib.
Earlier, Ung told the court that YR1M had four trustees, including Najib. The others were Tan Sri Lodin Wok Kamaruddin, former special officer in the Prime Minister’s Office Datuk Wan Shihab Wan Ismail and Azlin.
However, after Azlin died, there are only three trustees.
Ung said on matters pertaining to YR1M’s administration and policy, she would liaise with Azlin, especially to discuss board papers that required approval by the trustees and the prime minister’s signature.
She said YR1M was established in January 2013 and its objectives, among others, were to improve the quality of life of the less fortunate, improve the education standard of rural students and carry out CSR projects for IPSR.
Najib, 66, is facing three charges of criminal breach of trust, one charge of power abuse and three counts of money laundering involving SRC funds totalling RM42 million.
The hearing before Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali continues tomorrow. — Bernama
