Trial: Money from 1MDB unit’s borrowed US$975m did make it to Najib’s private bank account, Bank Negara analyst insists

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 11 — The RM45.8 million that was sent to former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s personal AmIslamic bank account in 2014 did originate from a US$975 million bank loan borrowed by government-owned 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) analyst told the High Court today.

Adam Ariff Mohd Roslan said this while testifying as the 47th prosecution witness in Najib’s trial over the misappropriation of 1MDB’s RM2.28 billion which were alleged to have entered the former prime minister’s private AmIslamic bank accounts.

This afternoon, Najib’s lead defence lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah attempted to suggest that bank documents showed that money from 1MDB subsidiary 1MDB Energy Holdings Limited’s (1MEHL) US$975 million loan did not end up in Najib’s AmIslamic bank account.

But Adam Ariff disagreed with Shafee’s suggestion, citing bank documents to show that the 1MDB unit’s borrowed funds of US$975 million was the source of the money that was sent to Najib’s bank account which carried the code name “AmPrivate Banking-1MY”.

This comes under Phase Four of the 1MDB scheme, where Adam Ariff had previously said that 1MEHL had in September 2014 borrowed US$975 million from Deutsche Bank, before 1MEHL sent US$223.333 million (between September 2 and September 3, 2014) and US$457.9 million (between September 29 and September 30, 2014) to the Seychelles-incorporated company Aabar Investments PJS Limited.

Adam Ariff had previously said that the money originating from the 1MDB unit’s US$975 million loan then flowed through the British Virgin Islands-incorporated Aabar International Investments Ltd and through Malaysian fugitive Low Taek Jho’s associate Eric Tan Kim Loong’s Vista Equity International Partners Limited, before a portion totalling £8.7 million or equivalent to RM45,825,918.13 (RM45.8 million) reached Najib’s “AmPrivate Banking-1MY” in five transactions between October 23, 2014 to December 19, 2014.

Both Aabar firms are now known to be fake companies carrying a strikingly similar name to the actual Abu Dhabi-owned firm Aabar Investments PJS.

Today, Shafee suggested that the money originating from the 1MDB unit’s US$975 million loan that was sent to the Seychelles-incorporated Aabar had been fully used up, and that the money that was later sent from this company to other entities before reaching Najib’s account could not have originated from the US$975 million loan.

Shafee: So between September 3 and September 15, the US$223,333,000 that was paid to Aabar-Seychelles from the proceeds of the US$975 million Deutsche Bank loan was fully utilised. That is quite safe to be concluded. So would it be safe to say no proceeds from US$223 million paid to Aabar-Seychelles from the proceeds of US$975 million Deutsche Bank loan was remitted to AmPrivateBanking-1MY?

Adam Ariff: I disagree.

Bank Negara analyst Adam Ariff Mohd Roslan repeatedly disagreed that the US$223.333 million to Aabar-Seychelles did not originate from the US$975 million loan, and later again disagreed that money from the 1MDB unit’s US$975 million loan did not end up in Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s ‘AmPrivateBanking-1MY’ account. — Picture by Ahmad Zamzahuri

Adam Ariff repeatedly disagreed that the US$223.333 million to Aabar-Seychelles did not originate from the US$975 million loan, and later again disagreed that money from the 1MDB unit’s US$975 million loan did not end up in Najib’s “AmPrivateBanking-1MY” account.

“I think in summary, I maintain whatever is in my report is significant information to confirm the movement of funds came from the same source, Deustche Bank loan, I’ll maintain as that,” Adam Ariff concluded when saying he had only included necessary information in his 76-page report on the money trail of funds from 1MDB and its subsidiaries to Najib’s AmIslamic bank accounts.

Adam Ariff said he had examined and went through other relevant banking documents for the money trail analysis, but had only included a list of 343 banking documents and records in his report which he said was necessary to establish the 1MDB money trail.

This morning, Shafee repeated Najib’s defence that he had always thought money that entered his bank accounts came from Saudi Arabia’s king, and asked if it would be reasonable for Najib to not know the source of the money.

But Adam Ariff said he had no comments.

Shafee: I’m putting to you that it is perfectly reasonable for Datuk Seri Najib to not know the source of this money because the stellar institution like Bank Negara and where you come from, the intelligence unit which must be full of intelligence, you took two years, it took many years. It’s reasonable for Datuk Seri Najib to not know the source.

Adam Ariff: I cannot comment on that, Yang Arif, I have no comment on that.

Before the trial started this morning, former Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin was seen chatting with Datuk Seri Najib Razak while seated beside him in the public gallery in the courtroom. — Picture by Ahmad Zamzahuri

During this trial, Adam Ariff had laid down the money trail based on his 76-page report, which showed that RM2.28 billion of funds raised by 1MDB and its subsidiaries was transferred through many overseas bank accounts between September 2009 and December 2014, before being transferred back into Malaysia into Najib’s two AmIslamic bank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.

Adam Ariff’s money trail on the transfer of RM2.28 billion of 1MDB funds in four phases to Najib’s accounts matches the four phases which the prosecution had said it would prove.

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).

Before the trial started this morning, former Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin was seen chatting with Najib while seated beside him in the public gallery in the courtroom.

Najib’s wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor was seen in the public gallery in the courtroom during the trial today.

Najib’s 1MDB trial before judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah resumes tomorrow, with a new prosecution witness expected to be called tomorrow morning and with Adam Ariff expected to continue testifying tomorrow afternoon.