KUALA LUMPUR: A lawyer told the High Court here today that Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in a defamation suit against former Transport Minister Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik admitted that RM42 million from SRC International Sdn Bhd went into his personal bank accounts.
Ranjit Singh who had acted for Dr Ling in that suit said the former premier made the admission in an affidavit in response to his client’s statement of defence.
The 55th prosecution witness said this during the examination-in-chief by ad-hoc prosecutor Datuk V. Sithambaram on the 45th day of Najib’s trial in relation to RM42 million of SRC’s funds.
When reading out Najib’s affidavit, the witness said the accused admitted in a sworn affidavit that the RM42 million was from SRC.
“Najib also said that between Dec 24, 2014 and Feb 6, 2015, a total of RM42 million was transferred into his accounts through two intermediaries.
“However, Najib also said he had no personal knowledge that the money was channelled into his accounts through two intermediaries namely, Gandingan Mentari Sdn Bhd and Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd.”
During a function at Tunku Abdul Rahman University College in Kuala Lumpur on Oct 3, 2015, Dr Ling said Najib was unfit to be prime minister and had called for his resignation following news reports of alleged misappropriation of public funds.
“He took people’s money and put it into his accounts. How could he do that?… This was the basis for my client (Dr Ling)’s opinion that Najib was unfit to be prime minister of Malaysia,” testified the lawyer.
He said Najib in his affidavit in relation to the suit, replied that $700 million which was also deposited into his accounts from an overseas source was a personal donation.
The witness however noted that Najib withdrew his suit on May 22, 2018, weeks after the 14th General Election.
On May 22, 2018, Najib withdrew the lawsuit against Dr Ling over the publication of an article in a news portal which alleged that the former prime minister abused funds belonging 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
The court struck out the case without liberty to refile and also ordered Najib to pay RM25,000 as cost.
Ranjit said Dr Ling also withdrew his counter-claim suit against Najib on Dec 14, 2015 without liberty for the former MCA president to file afresh.
On Oct 27, 2015, Najib in his personal capacity sued Dr Ling for allegedly slandering him in an article published by a news portal on Oct 3, 2015.
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 funds amounting to RM42 million.
The hearing before Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali continues. – Bernama
