KUALA LUMPUR, April 22 — An Umno politician referred to Datuk Seri Najib Razak as “malu apa bossku” after he was asked to identify the former prime minister during the latter’s corruption trial.
Johor Baru Umno division secretary Abu Talib Alias, who is the 10th witness, was earlier asked to point out Najib in court by deputy public prosecutor Muhammad Saifuddin Hashim Musaimi during examination at the RM42 million SRC International Sdn Bhd trial.
“Is he here in court?” Muhammad Saifuddin asked.
“There he is,” Abu Talib responded, gesturing to Najib in the accused dock. “Malu apa bossku,”
The court burst into laughter briefly at Abu Talib’s use of Najib’s new slogan that means “Why the shame, boss?”
Earlier during examination, Abu Talib told the High Court he had received a RM300,000 cheque made out to Umno Johor Baru division at the Prime Minister's office (PMO) in 2015.
He said he was instructed to meet with Najib’s former private secretary, the late Datuk Azlin Alias, at the PMO after receiving a phone call.
“After I received the call, I informed then Johor Baru MP Tan Sri Shahrir Abdul Samad who then ordered me to collect the cheque.
Azlin, along with former Rompin MP Tan Sri Jamaluddin Jarjis, died in a helicopter crash in April 2015.
Abu Talib disclosed that he had no knowledge of the cheque’s amount and was only told to collect it for the purpose of “programme fundings for the political party”.
“I only knew the cheque was for RM300,000 when I received the cheque in a white envelope (given by Azlin) and deposited it into our division’s account,” he said.
Upon receiving the cheque, Abu Talib said he immediately deposited it at one of the Maybank branches in Putrajaya.
“When the contribution is received, the division chief will inform the party’s president that they have received as a form of acknowledgement,” he added.
During cross-examination by Najib’s lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, Abu Talib was asked whether the RM300,000 from Najib was sufficient enough to last a year, to which the latter responded no.
“We need at least RM600,000 for administrative expenses to run the divisions because we have 86 Umno branches under our division.
“We (the party) also organised a lot of community, festival or welfare activities for mostly the poor,” he said.
Abu Talib explained that while contributions are normally given by the party’s president, there are also contributions given by the division chief and Umno Johor office.
“I received the cheques from Najib for a total of three times. This cheque in 2015 was the last received from Najib.
“I did not question the source of the money,” he said.
Abu Talib’s Johor Baru Umno division is among 15 recipients of cheques totalling over RM10.77 million issued under two AmIslamic Bank accounts that were registered under Najib’s name, based on court documents produced in court today and previously.
