The former chief executive officer (CEO) of SRC International Sdn Bhd, Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil who is on the run since last year, “played both sides”, says Malaysia’s ex-PM Najib Razak.
He says this led to the company getting ripped off, and him getting blamed.
Testifying at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur, Najib calmly pointed the finger at Nik Faisal, arguing that the ex-CEO told SRC board of directors one thing, and told him another when the latter briefed him about happenings in the company.
Najib is yet to produce any records of the conversations he says he had with Nik Faisal.
“We were played out by him…He briefed me about decisions made by the directors but at the same time he gave them instructions saying that I had approved certain decisions,” he said on the stand.
Najib is the first Malaysian high official, an ex-PM for that matter, to take the stand in court. This was never seen or thought possible in Malaysia during the reign of the Barisan Nasional.
He is accused of misappropriating RM42 million of SCRs funds but he says he was never involved in micro-managing any of Ministry of Finance Inc (MoF Inc) companies, including SRC International.
Besides Nik Faisal, Najib lays the blame for the fiasco on another personality.
Once again, he expresses shock that the company’s top management, including its chairman Tan Sri Ismee Ismail had never bothered to verify things but blindly followed whatever was told to them by Nik Faisal.
“Ismee was an experienced person who had managed other government-linked companies (GLCs).
“He had my private mobile number and could have contacted me anytime. We also met several times but he never raised anything about what Nik Faisal told the board.”
So far, Najib has said Jho Low, the fugitive businessman who is one of the masterminds behind the 1MDB scandal, was the one who introduced him to the Saudi Arabia King.
He also says the King sent money to his personal account based on Mr Low’s instructions.-/TISG
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