Aathi Shankar
KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Suboh Yassin has testified at Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s trial that he never knew about SRC International Sdn Bhd’s subsidiary Gandingan Mentari Sdn Bhd’s purported investment venture in South America in 2014.
The prosecution’s 42nd witness appeared to be in a shock when he was shown by the defence a turnkey agreement dated July 25, 2014 between Gandingan Mentari and Putra Perdana Construction Sdn Bhd.
The agreement, purportedly to invest into a business venture in Brazil, was signed by Suboh as the director of Gandingan Mentari.
Putra Perdana Construction was headed by one, Datuk Rosman Abdullah.
“I have never seen this document before,” testified Suboh before Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali today, Tuesday, July 2, 2019.
Suboh testimony raises suspicion that former SRC International chief executive officer (CEO) and director Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil may have scanned and forged his signature on the agreement.
On Monday, June 17, 2019, former SRC International chairman-director, Tan Sri Ismee Ismail testified that SRC formed Gandingan Mentari as a special purpose vehicle (SPV) with a sole purpose to deal with a land in Bukit Jalil.
He said Gandingan Mentari was not supposed to do any other business.
Another point to note is that on the same date when the agreement was signed, Suboh had allegedly ordered a sum of RM170 million from Gandingan Mentari to be remitted to Putra Perdana Construction for the investment purpose.
Najib’s defence team could drill Suboh on the money tomorrow.
Yesterday, Monday July 1, 2019, Suboh testified that Nik Faisal had scanned and forged his signatures on 17 letters of transfer instruction (LTIs) pertaining to transactions of money involving SRC International and several other companies.
Today when asked by the defence on whether the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had interrogated him on the forgery, he replied: “I can’t remember.”
Following an application by the defence, the prosecution then produced to the court Suboh’s four witness statements recorded by the MACC.
His first statement was recorded in Abu Dhabi on November 27, 2015, in which he confirmed that he had signed all the LTIs that were shown to him by MACC during interrogation.
However, in two subsequent statements that were recorded in Putrajaya on May 28 and May 30, 2018, Suboh claimed that he did not sign the bank documents.
But, in his last statement recorded by MACC on August 13, 2018, he reversed his stance and claimed that he had indeed signed those documents.
Suboh will continue his testimony tomorrow.
Najib is facing 7 corruption charges pertaining to SRC International funds.
The charges were 3 each for CBT under Section 409 of the Penal Code and money laundering under Section 4 of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities (AMLA) Act 2001, and 1 for abuse of power under Section 23 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Act (MACC) 2009.
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