At SRC trial, witness says Najib charged RM3.3m to his credit card at Swiss jeweller's for gift to ex-Qatar PM
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 23 ― Datuk Seri Najib Razak's credit card transactions worth RM3.3 million in a single day at a Swiss luxury jeweller De Grisogono in Italy in August 2014 was for a gift to the former Prime Minister of Qatar, the High Court heard today.
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigating officer Senior Assistant Commissioner Rosli Hussain, the prosecution’s 57th and final witness in Najib’s RM42 million SRC International Sdn Bhd corruption trial, confirmed this when cross-examined by the former prime minister’s defence lawyer Farhan Read.
Farhan: Datuk Seri Najib explained to you that the amount that was spent was so significant was because it was for a foreign leader whose country had 'close relations' with Malaysia.
Rosli: Yes, something like that.
Farhan then produced a letter of gratitude dated August 15, 2014 which the lawyer claimed was from the spouse of Qatar's then prime minister addressed to Najib's wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, thanking the latter for the jewellery purchases.
According to Farhan, the sender was one Noor Abdulaziz Abdulla Turki Al-Subaie, wife of Shaikh Hamad Jassim Jabr Al Thani, at that time the prime minister of Qatar.
When shown the faint and slightly grainy copy of the letter, Rosli said he has never seen the letter before and Rosmah also did not informed him of the matter when her statement was taken.
When asked on whether he knew of De Grisogono's nature of business, Rosli said he did not know what Najib bought as he was unable to go to Italy.
The Pekan MP was both the prime minister and finance minister when he made the purchases on August 8, 2014.
Najib took to Facebook last month to defend the 2014 hefty credit card bill, saying they were gifts for the royalty of another country.
Previously, Ambank’s senior vice-president of Credit Card Authorisation and Fraud Management, Yeoh Eng Leong who is the 47th prosecution witness, testified in the SRC International trial that the one-day spending spree was at €763,500 or equivalent to RM3.364,670,65 using conversion rates from 2015.
This matches a previous prosecution witness’s testimony by AmBank Jalan Raja Chulan’s branch manager R. Uma Devi of a total RM3,282,734.16 or over RM3.2 million being paid out from Najib’s AmBank account 2112022011880 to these two Platinum credit card accounts at AmBank on August 13, 2014.
Najib is currently on trial seven charges of alleged abuse of position, money-laundering and criminal breach of trust over RM42 million of funds from SRC International, a former subsidiary of 1Malaysia Development Berhad.
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