KUALA LUMPUR: A simple counter-check by a bank could have prevented millions of dollars from being funnelled out from SRC International Sdn Bhd, the High Court heard.
The check could have confirmed or nullified the claim that Low Taek Jho was acting on the behest of Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s on matters concerning SRC International Sdn Bhd, former BSI Bank head of wealth management services, Kevin Micheal Swampillai, 64, admitted.
He agreed with the former prime minister’s counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah’s suggestion that a counter-check could have prevented the millions from being funnelled from SRC International into SRC International (Malaysia) Ltd’s (SRC BVI) account at the BSI.
Swampillai, who was being cross-examined by Muhammad Shafee, admitted that he knew Low had made representations that he was acting for SRC International under instructions from Najib, although Low, or Jho Low, had no documents to substantiate his claim.
Muhammad Shafee then remarked that “name-dropping” was common in Malaysia.
“I am not sure how it is in Singapore. Here, we call it ‘jual nama’,” he said.
Swampillai: Yes, I am aware.
Muhammad Shafee: You know that Jho Low has this habit of name-dropping. You admitted it in your witness statement before. Unfortunately, nobody, not even the officer from the bank, can determine whether the government of Malaysia was, in fact, aware of what was happening in SRC. Nobody counter-checked whether this character (Jho Low) was really a representative of SRC?Swampillai: If your question is, if nobody from BSI checked with the (former) prime minister, no.
Muhammad Shafee: You agree with me that a simple check could have prevented the transactions from going further?
Swampillai: Yes.
Swampillai is the first witness on the stand in SRC’s lawsuit against Najib and former SRC CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil before Justice Ahmad Fairuz Zainol Abidin.
SRC, under its new management, filed the legal action in May 2021, alleging that Najib had committed breach of trust, abuse of power, misappropriated the company’s funds and personally benefited from it.
It named Najib as defendant along with former directors Datuk Suboh Md Yassin, Datuk Mohammed Azhar Osman Khairuddin, Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, Datuk Che Abdullah @ Rashidi Che Omar, Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi and Tan Sri Ismee Ismail in May 2021.
However, it later removed six names from the suit and retained Najib and Nik Faisal as the first and second defendants.
Najib, who was SRC’s Emeritus Advisor from May 1, 2012, until March 4, 2019, has brought the former-named SRC International directors as third-party respondents in the suit.
The company sought general, exemplary, and additional damages, interests, costs and other reliefs deemed fit by the court.
It also sought a declaration that Najib is responsible for the company’s losses due to his breach of duties and trusts, and demanded that he pay back the RM42mil losses it had suffered.
Najib, 70, has been in Kajang Prison since Aug 23, 2022, after being convicted in the RM42mil SRC International case for misappropriation of funds. After a partial royal pardon, Najib’s sentence was reduced from 12 years to six years, and his fine reduced from RM210mil to only RM50mil.
The hearing continues on Monday.
