News by Emir Zainul

During his examination-in-chief by defence lawyer Rahmat Hazlan today, Najib testified that King Abdullah had donated US$800 million through a series of transactions from Tanore Finance Corp into his AmBank account in early 2013, as a "gift that I can spend at my absolute discretion".

"I found that Jho Low was successful in collaborating with the Arabs and Khazanah Nasional Bhd in the Iskandar Development," said Najib. 

Najib said this when testifying on the witness stand in his SRC International Sdn Bhd trial to questions from his lawyer Wan Aizuddin Wan Mohammed.

"I never directed the board of directors on the same matter. I was not in any position to micro-manage any MoF Inc company, including SRC. Furthermore, SRC was not the only MoF Inc company that [was] involved in national interest at that time. There was no reason for me to direct the SRC board of director through Nik Faisal," he said.

The original copies of these documents were, however, not tendered as evidence before High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali.

“My only interest in the SRC is that it is in the national interest,” he told the High Court here today, as he took the witness stand to make a sworn statement after Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali ruled a prima facie case was established by the prosecution in the trial for alleged misappropriation of RM42 million in SRC.

Testifying in his defence, Najib said there were instances where he wrote ‘bersetuju” (agree) but the officers did not support his decision.

In his opening speech outlining the defence case today, Shafee said his team will also prove that the surrounding circumstances has led Najib to believe that fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, was a close associate to the royal family of Saudi Arabia.

Najib said this on his first day of giving testimony in his SRC trial at the High Court.

"I understand that Jho Low was chosen as the advisor to the chairman of TIA board of advisors, who was Sultan Mizan himself," he said.