KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s lawyer today said his client would not be sitting in the dock if Ambank, which was managing the former prime minister’s accounts, had done its job properly.
Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said this when he questioned a Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) investigating officer who led a raid on Ambank branch in Jalan Raja Chulan on July 6, 2015.
He argued that if Ambank had filed a Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) with BNM and alerted Najib that such things were happening in his accounts, then “my client would not be sitting here.”
He also raised the issue of how “a total failure of the system” had prevented Najib “to do something to protect himself.”
Shafee said he was ‘puzzled’ by all that had happened as Ambank should have done its job but it didn’t.
“If Ambank had done its job and reported these suspicious transactions, this whole mess may have been avoided.
“However, the matter fizzled out just like that without the account holder even been alerted about it,” he said while cross-examining the BNM witness Ahmad Farhan Sharifuddin, 32.
Farhan, who had been recalled to be cross-examined, earlier confirmed that Ambank was fined in 2015 for failing to file the STR.
Shafee: Did Bank Negara or Ambank take any measures to inform Najib that this had happened to the bank. About Ambank being found guilty of not reporting the suspicious transactions?
Farhan: No
Shafee: Do you agree that if my client had been alerted that there was something wrong with the accounts, this whole matter could have been avoided.
Farhan: I don’t agree because that would have tipped him off.
Shafee: What is the process? I am puzzled by all this. Ambank should have done its job and then the matter just fizzled out after the bank was fined for its failure to file the STR.
Farhan then tried to explain the process after an STR is filed. He said the central bank special unit to handle such cases would initiate an analysis of the report before passing it on to the relevant enforcement agencies for further action.
At one point, Farhan, who was clearly exasperated by the repeated questions about Ambank’s failure, sighed and said he could not answer questions based on inferences.
Najib’s savings and current accounts at the Ambank branch in Jalan Raja Chulan are at the centre of the case where the prosecution had on the third day of the trial established a paper trial involving the transfer of millions of Ringgit from 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) subsidiary company to another.
However, the defence has all this while tried to establish that Najib – who is on trial for corruption, abuse of power and money-laundering involving RM42 million of 1MDB linked company, SRC International Sdn Bhd, was a victim of manipulation by certain people, including rogue bankers.
They claimed Najib had been manipulated by people who had gained tremendously from him.
Shafee was previously reported to have said that the former prime minister’s current situation is akin to a movie, because “the person who is suspected the most turns out in the end to be a victim.”
The trial continues.