In Najib’s 1MDB trial, defence challenges Bank Negara analyst’s money trail testimony

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 10 — Lawyers defending former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak sought to discredit Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) analyst Adam Ariff Mohd Roslan court testimony on the flow of money from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) to Najib’s accounts.

Najib's lead defence lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah told the High Court that Adam Ariff is not an expert witness, and the latter’s testimony is therefore not relevant.

Adam Ariff was called to the stand as the 47th prosecution witness in Najib's trial over the misappropriation of RM2.28 billion of 1MDB funds that were alleged to have entered the former prime minister's private AmIslamic bank accounts.

After Adam Ariff confirmed he is not appearing as an expert witness in Najib's trial but is testifying as an analyst in the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission's (MACC) 1MDB task force, Shafee said the prosecution witness had been giving his opinion in court through his report on the 1MDB money trail to Najib’s personal bank accounts.

““Yang Arif, I’m wondering in the light of the witness’s admission that he is not an expert witness, whether this is an appropriate time to submit that what he has testified is not relevant, because he has expressed opinion in a report. He's now saying he only analysed and that analysis can be undertaken by anyone with a great deal of patience.

“As Yang Arif is aware, Section 45, only expert witnesses can express opinions,” Shafee said, referring to Section 45 of the Evidence Act 1950.

Shafee suggested time would be saved if the court were to find that Adam Ariff is not eligible to testify on the 1MDB money trail as the investigating officer could have done it.

Under Section 45, when the court has to form an opinion on foreign law, science, art or identity or genuineness of handwriting or finger impressions, the opinions by experts – specially skilled in such matters – are relevant facts.

Trial judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah replied that such arguments on the Evidence Act can be presented at a later stage of the trial – at the end of the prosecution's case when submissions are made, and that Shafee could choose to not go through the money trail if he viewed Adam Ariff's testimony to be not relevant.

Deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib pointed out that Adam Ariff is a witness of fact and that failure to cross-examine him would amount to acceptance of the facts stated by him.

Shafee then decided to continue cross-examining Adam Ariff.

Bank Negara Malaysia Analyst Adam Ariff Mohd Roslan at Kuala Lumpur Court Complex October 10, 2023. — Picture by Sayuti Zainudin

Under questioning from Shafee earlier, Adam Ariff said he was seconded to the MACC in June 2018 to assist it in its investigations, and that he had completed four illustrations or charts on the 1MDB money flows in January 2020.

He added that he had completed the money trail report on 1MDB in June 2022.

He said his analysis was based on banking documents provided to him by the MACC.

Asked by Shafee if other individuals would also be able to produce or understand the same money trail on 1MDB if provided with the same banking documents, Adam Ariff said this would be possible for someone who has finance background knowledge or has done some financial transaction analysis.

"First, I think just basic banking knowledge, if you have a bank statement, you will be able to see the patterns in the bank statement, deductions and addition.

"Secondly, if you have some experience in analysing financial transactions like I do, as part of being in the FIU, so that's about it, I feel," he said, referring to the Financial Intelligence Unit, which is an independent department under Bank Negara and which he works at.

Adam Ariff agreed that it would be labourious but not "rocket science" to go through the documents to trace the funds in Najib's accounts backwards to 1MDB and to confirm MACC's findings on the money flows.

He also agreed that investigating officers in the MACC would be able to do the same money trail, when asked.

Adam Ariff graduated in 2017 with a bachelor's degree in finance from Universiti Teknologi MARA where he received the Vice Chancellor's Gold Medal Award for excellence in academics and co-curricular activities, and in 2017 started his BNM career as an intern at the bank's Financial Intelligence and Enforcement Department (FIED) and began work there as an associate analyst the same year.

He was in June 2018 seconded to the 1MDB task force at the MACC as an analyst and was upgraded in 2019 to be an analyst at BNM and promoted to a managerial role in 2022.

Adam Ariff confirmed he was not given the original copies but was analysing the 1MDB money trail to Najib's accounts based on photocopied copies of the documents, he said he took it in good faith that the documents were genuine and not tampered with.

He added that he had no reason to believe the documents were not genuine and he felt there was no need for the original copies to be shown to him for his analysis on the 1MDB money trail.

Shafee says Najib believed he was getting Saudi donation

At one point, Adam Ariff disagreed with Shafee's suggestion that he had formed an "opinion" about the flow of 1MDB funds to Good Star Limited (now known to be owned by Malaysian fugitive Low Taek Jho and an entity where money flowed through before it was said to have eventually reached Najib's account), saying that it was a "fact" that bank statements had shown the funds were related to 1MDB and Good Star based on the amount and dates of the transactions.

Adam Ariff's 76-page money trail report showed that RM2.28 billion of money belonging to 1MDB and its related companies had flowed to Najib's two AmIslamic bank accounts.

But Shafee this morning sought to assert Najib's defence over the money flow in Phase One of the alleged 1MDB scheme, where US$24.5 million flowed from Good Star to the Riyad Bank account of a "Prince Faisal" and where US$20 million then flowed from the Riyad Bank account to Najib's AmIslamic account which had the code name "AmPrivateBanking-MR".

"Datuk Seri Najib's defence is simple, he was of the full belief, without a doubt, money that came from the Riyad Bank was in fact donation from the late King Abdullah of Saudi, ok, you get that? So the amount of money that came in is not the subject matter, what is relevant is did Datuk Seri Najib know whether this money originated from 1MDB.

"You see the distinction now? If he knew it was from 1MDB, of course he is guilty, but if he does not know and honestly thought the money came from King Abdullah, then it is a different story altogether. You took two years to make up your mind about this transaction and other transactions. Have you seen from Datuk Seri Najib's perspective, what would he have had when he received these monies in his account in AmIslamic?" Shafee asked.

But Adam Ariff said this was not required as it was outside of his scope of work.

"No, that was not needed because my purpose and scope is to analyse the movement of funds, in terms of the purpose, it's not a concern to me," the prosecution witness replied.

On the first day of trial, the prosecution had said it would show that 1MDB funds had been transferred in multiple transactions to Najib’s accounts, namely US$20 million equivalent to RM60,629,839.43 or over RM60 million from the first phase, US$30 million equivalent to RM90,899,927.28 or over RM90 million (second phase), US$681 million equivalent to RM2,081,476,926 or over RM2 billion (third phase), and transactions in British pound that were equivalent to RM4,093,500 and RM45,837,485.70 or a combined total of RM49,930,985.70 million or over RM49 million (fourth phase).

Adam Ariff's money trail report outlined the same four phases mentioned by the prosecution to show how money had flowed from 1MDB and its related companies to Najib's two AmIslamic accounts.