Najib never sued AmBank while he was an account holder, bank officer tells court

An Ambank officer told the Kuala Lumpur High Court today that Najib Razak never filed any lawsuits against the bank for mishandling his accounts while he was an account holder.

Ambank (M) Bhd Jalan Raja Chulan branch manager, R Uma Devi, 43, who has held the position since 2015, said Najib also never lodged any complaints to the bank about his bank statements.

"On monthly intervals, the bank would send a bank statement listing all of the transactions made in the account to its customers. As far as I know, even during the SRC International case, there were no disputes or complaints made by Najib regarding his bank account statements," she said.

The 37th prosecution witness said this while answering additional questions from senior deputy public prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram at the Pekan MP’s trial for the misappropriation of RM2.3 billion in funds from 1MDB.

Sri Ram: Between 2015 and 2018, did the accused file any proceedings against your bank for mishandling his account, to your knowledge?

Uma Devi: To my knowledge, no.
 
Earlier, Sri Ram questioned the witness on the evidence she gave during the SRC International trial, during which time she said that her statement was accepted and never disputed by either the High Court or the Court of Appeal.

Last week, Uma Devi testified that Najib held five accounts with Ambank: one savings account ending with number 694, and four current accounts – AmIslamic (ending with number 481), AmPrivate Banking-1MY (880), AmPrivate Banking-Y1MY (898) and AmPrivate Banking-MY (906).

On Dec 10, 2019, Najib sued AmBank Islamic Bhd and its former relationship manager Joanna Yu Ging Ping over the management of accounts under his name, namely the accounts ending 694, 880, 898 and 906 which Najib claimed were managed by AmBank without his knowledge and used to divert funds from SRC International.

However, Najib lost his appeal at the Court of Appeal in January this year when the court ruled that he was seeking to proceed with his civil suit to undermine the criminal proceedings and findings by the High Court and Court of Appeal in the SRC International criminal case.

Earlier, Uma Devi testified that in 2011 alone, Najib received RM1.25 million in interest payments that were credited to his personal savings account ending with the number 694.

Referring to Najib’s bank statement during examination-in-chief by deputy public prosecutor Najwa Bistamam, Uma Devi said the payments were received in 11 tranches throughout the year to the 694 account, between February and December 2011.

"I confirm that there were several entries involving interest payments for the year 2011 and the amount received varied according to the current balance of the account each month.

"This was based on the code 202000 written in the status of each interest entry transaction," she said, adding that the 694 account was opened on Jan 13, 2011, and closed on Aug 30, 2013.

Najib, 69, faces four charges of using his position to obtain bribes totalling RM2.3 billion from 1MDB funds and 21 charges of money laundering involving the same amount.

The trial before judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues tomorrow.