Najib had personal interest in SRC since its inception, appeal court hears

Najib Abdul Razak already had a personal interest in SRC International since the inception of the company, the Court of Appeal heard today.

Deputy public prosecutor V Sithambaram submitted that the former premier’s personal interest is shown by the insertion of his role as then prime minister in the memorandum of association (MOA) of SRC. The company was set up in January 2011.

The DPP contended that this is shown by Article 67 of SRC’s MOA.

In the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s written grounds over Najib’s conviction in the RM42 million SRC corruption case, trial judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali referred to Article 67, which granted the power to Najib to hire and fire board members of SRC.

SRC, which was once a subsidiary of troubled sovereign wealth fund 1MDB, later became fully owned by the Minister of Finance Incorporated.

Besides being the former premier, Najib was also finance minister, adviser emeritus to SRC, and chairperson of 1MDB’s board of advisers.

The hearing before the Court of Appeal is over Najib’s appeal to quash his conviction and sentencing over the RM42 million SRC corruption case.

Sithambaram is counter-submitting against the defence team’s contention that Najib has no personal interest in SRC, among other arguments.

“My learned friend (Najib’s defence team) insisted that Article 67 does not give power to the PM (then prime minister Najib), who is named in the (SRC) MOA from inception.

“He (Najib) was already there as part of the article (of association of SRC). At the inception, it (SRC) was a normal company.

“He had already come into the company, even before it (SRC) was assumed by 1MDB,” Sithambaram said, explaining that SRC shares were later bought by 1MDB.

“It is odd in the sense that the PM’s name was there before it became a government-owned company. He (Najib) had interest from inception. This is the starting block,” Sithambaram said.

“It is clear that SRC was incorporated at the behest of 1MDB and was supported by the appellant (Najib), who is named in his capacity as PM in the MOA from its inception. By January 2011, SRC was formally incorporated and the MOA gave power to the PM to appoint or remove the members of the SRC board of directors through Article 67 and to add, remove or amend the MOA through Article 116.

“The appellant had a very powerful role in SRC indeed which, the respondent (prosecution) submits, enabled the appellant to use SRC funds for his personal use,” Sithambaram said.

The issue of Najib’s alleged personal interest is critical in one of his seven charges, namely the charge of abuse of power under Section 23 of the MACC Act 2009.

The other charges are three counts of criminal breach of trust and three counts of money laundering in relation to RM42 million of funds from SRC.

The bench was chaired by Court of Appeal judge Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil. The other members were judges Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera and Has Zanah Mehat.

On July 28 last year, the Kuala Lumpur High Court convicted Najib on one count of abuse of power, three counts of CBT, and three counts of money laundering in relation to the RM42 million of funds from SRC.

Judge Nazlan had then sentenced Najib to 12 years in jail and a fine of RM210 million.

However, the lower court allowed the defence team's application to stay the sentence's execution pending the disposal of his appeal.

Sithambaram is expected to continue his submission this afternoon and tomorrow.