Kuala Lumpur: Former Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz today insisted she was never told that then prime minister Najib Razak would be receiving “donations” in his bank account.
Testifying in Najib’s 1MDB trial at the High Court, Zeti said she only met former AmBank managing director Cheah Tek Kuang “briefly” at her office on Jan 28, 2011.
She said Cheah informed her that Najib had opened a savings and a current account with AmBank on Jan 13 that year.
Cheah also told her that Najib’s current account had been given a code name, “AmPrivate Banking-MR”.
“He doesn’t have to inform me,” she said.
Responding to a question by lawyer Shafee Abdullah, Zeti said she did not ask Cheah why Najib opted for AmBank instead of one of the “bigger banks”.
She said Cheah sent her a letter about a week later confirming the details discussed at the meeting.
Asked what was meant by a statement in the letter which said that Najib was “expecting remittances” in the account, Zeti replied: “Every account opened is to receive money. (The term) ‘expecting remittances’ is a general term.”
‘AG reduced 1MDB fine to RM15 million’
Zeti also told the court BNM had initially suggested that 1MDB be slapped with a fine of RM23 million for its failure to comply with orders to repatriate its funds from overseas.
However, she said the Attorney-Gneral’s Chambers (AGC) reduced the quantum to RM15 million on May 25, 2016.
Shafee: Did the finance minister (Najib) attempt to waive the fine?
Zeti: No.
Najib is standing trial on 25 charges of abuse of power and money laundering over alleged 1MDB funds amounting to RM2.28 billion deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.
The hearing before Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues tomorrow.
