KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Razak said his personal bank account, where he received US$70 million purportedly from Retirement Fund Incorporated (KWAP) funds, was meant for corporate social responsibility (CSR) purposes.
The incarcerated former prime minister said the now-defunct account, dubbed 'AmPrivate Banking-MR', was never meant for his personal affairs.
"The account was not my personal, personal, account.
"It is a personal CSR account but it does not qualify as a really personal account," he said at the High Court today.
The 71-year-old former Pekan member of parliament said this when testifying in a US$1.18 billion civil lawsuit filed by SRC International Bhd against him and its former chief executive Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil.
Najib, during cross-examination by SRC International's lawyer Datuk Lim Chee Wee, struggled to answer a question regarding documentary evidence for the source of the US$70 million.
Lim: Based on your witness statement, you have not mentioned the source of the US$70 million credited into your personal AmIslamic account ending in '-694' on January 3, 2012, or that it isn't money from SRC or KWAP.
Najib: Yes.
Lim: You have not provided any documentary evidence to show that the US$70 million is not from SRC or KWAP. No documentary evidence at all.
Najib was silent for a moment before responding, "Can I come back to that?"
Lim: Did you request any independent verification of the source of the US$70 million credited into your personal AmIslamic bank account?
Najib: I did not request it because I do not manage my accounts, okay? I was not in control of my account.
SRC, under its new management, filed the suit in May 2021, claiming that Najib committed a breach of trust and abuse of power, had personally benefited from the company's funds and misappropriated the said funds.
It is also seeking a court declaration that Najib is responsible for the company's losses due to his breach of duties and trust and for Najib to pay back the RM42 million in losses it has suffered.
The trial before Justice Ahmad Fairuz Zainol Abidin continues.