PUTRAJAYA, Jan 10 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak today said he was unsure how a purported Saudi royal managed to get his private AmIslamic bank account number, but insisted that the huge sums of money he received in that personal bank account were Saudi donations.
Testifying in his money laundering trial involving RM2 billion of 1MDB funds, Najib continued to maintain that the money that entered his accounts were not from 1MDB, but were donations promised in 2010 by the late Saudi ruler King Abdullah.
Najib said he did not ask how an alleged Saudi royal family member named “Saud Abdulaziz Majid Al Saud” knew of his personal AmIslamic bank account number ending 9694, but confirmed this was the account that had received the purported donations.
When asked by deputy public prosecutor Kamal Baharin Omar how this was possible since it was a personal account number, Najib suggested that it was possible that others had told Saud about his account.
After repeatedly being pressed to confirm he did not enquire how Saud got his account number, Najib finally said: “Maybe, I don’t know, maybe Jho Low told him.”
Low is now a fugitive wanted in Malaysia for the 1MDB financial scandal, and Najib has denied that Low was his mirror image and alter ego in the 1MDB scheme.
In the 1MDB trial, Najib said he had received four letters addressed to him and his personal home address from the alleged Saudi prince Saud with promises of “gifts”.
The four purported donation letters are dated February 1, 2011 (promising a US$100 gift), November 1, 2011 (US$375 million), March 1, 2013 (US$800 million) and June 1, 2014 (£50 million).
But while Najib’s AmIslamic account 9694 was opened on January 13, 2011, Najib confirmed that the first alleged donation letter dated February 1, 2011 did not state which bank account would be receiving the purported Saudi gift.
Najib again said he did not know how Saudi Arabia was told of his 9694 account.
Later when Najib had closed down his 9694 account and opened a new AmIslamic account with account number ending 1880, Najib confirmed that a subsequent alleged Saudi donation was then sent to his new personal bank account.
But Najib again said he was unsure who had informed the new account number to the alleged donor, saying: “No, I did not enquire.”
But Najib disagreed that this meant that the alleged donation did not come from King Abdullah, saying: “I disagree, we can prove it later.”
About the original alleged donation letters and saying thank you
Najib said he had received the alleged Saudi donation letters from his then principal private secretary Datuk Azlin Alias but had not asked about the source of the letters, confirming the letters only stated “Saud Abdulaziz Majid Al Saud Private Office” without Saud’s address.
Najib claimed he had kept the original copies of these letters at his office in the Prime Minister’s Department, but said he was unable to access these documents after he lost the 13th general election in 2018.
Najib said he does not know Saud personally.
Najib confirmed that the first donation letter dated February 1, 2011 did not say the US$100 million would be given in stages, also confirming this letter did not state the money would come from an alleged Saudi royal family member “Prince Faisal Turki bin Bandar Al Saud” or from the latter’s Riyad Bank account.
But Najib insisted that two batches of US$10 million each he had received in February 2011 and June 2011 from Prince Faisal Turki’s Riyad Bank account were Saudi royal donations, based on his “assumption” that these money were from King Abdullah as promised.
Najib confirmed he had never met and does not know Prince Faisal Turki, also saying that he personally did not check if this individual was from the Saudi royal family.
Asked if he had checked if the first batch of US$10 million received was truly a promised gift, Najib said he assumed it was the promised donation from King Abdullah as it was sent by a Saudi royal.
“I based it on what was told by the king, I assume this is his wish, because it came from the royal family. Impossible for the royal family to send money without his wish, can’t be suddenly send money,” Najib said, also saying that it would not be possible for King Abdullah to personally send the money as he is a head of state.
Najib said he had only verbally thanked King Abdullah in a subsequent visit, but said he did not write any letter to acknowledge receiving the alleged donations or to express his thanks to the Saudi ruler.
Najib said this was because the donation matter was “sensitive” and cannot be written down, as protocol would require his letters as a head of government to be sent through the Foreign Affairs Ministry.
Najib said he did not write to Saud as he knew the source of the donations was from King Abdullah and it would be proper to thank the Saudi ruler directly, denying that his failure to write a thank you letter meant that the money did not come from King Abdullah.
As for the second alleged donation letter dated November 1, 2011 and the first batch of alleged donation of US$5 million only being received almost one year later on October 31, 2012, Najib said it was up to donors to decide when they would send money and he could not control this.
Najib said it would have been “impolite” for him to check with Saud if the money received was linked to the second donation letter.
Najib insisted that the second alleged donation letter would have been sent on King Abdullah’s instructions, despite the letter’s omission of an early 2010 private meeting between him and the Saudi ruler where financial aid was allegedly promised to Najib.
Najib said he felt there was no need for him to check the donations, as the letter was from Saudi royalty and protocol had to be observed when dealing with the Saudi royal family.
As for the 2010 meeting, Najib today said three Malaysian delegation members --- then ministers Datuk Seri Anifah Aman, Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom and former Malaysian ambassador to Saudi Arabia Datuk Syed Omar Al Saggaf --- were present in the same room where he had the private meeting with King Abdullah.
But Najib said he and King Abdullah were located further away while having the sensitive discussions, and that the Malaysian trio could not have heard what was discussed despite being in the same room.
Today, Najib’s lawyer Tania Scivetti said the defence currently plans to call in about 20 more defence witnesses, but said the final figure is yet to be confirmed.
The 1MDB trial before judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah resumes next Monday, with the prosecution expected to continue cross-examining Najib.