KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Razak said he was aware that a large sum of money, purportedly from the Saudi royal family, would be remitted into his personal bank account, the High Court heard today.
The former prime minister said he had informed AmBank about the transaction beforehand so that both the bank and Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) would be alerted to it.
"I wanted both of them (BNM and AmBank) to monitor my account to make sure that nothing untoward would happen.
"As a customer, I would not have access to the source of funds," he said this when testifying in a US$1.18 billion civil lawsuit filed by SRC International against him and the company's former CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, who is still at large.
Najib said he had informed AmBank former group managing director Cheah Tek Kuang about the transaction and asked the latter to notify BNM via its then governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz.
"I alerted Cheah and asked him to deliver the letter to inform Zeti."
The 71-year-old was referring to the infamous letter, purportedly from Saudi royalty and signed by Prince Saud Abdulaziz Al-Saud, which was addressed to Najib to inform him about the donation.
Najib's defense team presented the letter in his criminal trial for misappropriating 1MDB funds to support their claim that the millions deposited into his account were a donation from the Saudi monarch.
In 2022, Cheah when testifying in the Najib's 1MDB criminal trial admitted that he had informed Zeti about the incoming funds during a secret meeting at the latter's office.
However, Zeti, when testifying in the same trial, refuted Cheah's statement, arguing that the meeting was purely a matter of courtesy.
Meanwhile, when asked by his lawyer, Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, whether he knew that the money was from something illegal, Najib responded that he never suspected anything.
SRC International, under its new management, filed the suit in May 2021, claiming that Najib committed a breach of trust and abuse of power.
The company also alleged Najib misappropriated company funds and benefited from it.
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 suffered.
The trial before Judge Datuk Ahmad Fairuz Zainol Abidin continues.