PUTRAJAYA: Then prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had been shocked and upset that RM42 million had entered his personal bank accounts through the company carrying out 1Malaysia Development Berhad’s (1MDB) corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, a witness known as “Mr CSR” told the court today.
Datuk Dr Shamsul Anwar Sulaiman, who was formerly 1MDB’s executive director in the CSR division and Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd’s managing director, said this while testifying as the 14th defence witness in Najib’s 1MDB trial.
Dr Shamsul told the High Court that he is known as “Mr CSR” or “Dr Sam CSR”, and said Ihsan Perdana was set up to carry out CSR work for 1MDB. He said the company received a total of RM40 million each year from Yayasan 1MDB (Y1MDB) and Yayasan Rakyat1Malaysia (YR1M) to fund such activities.
Dr Shamsul said that in July 2015, he discovered from a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article that the RM42 million — which his company Ihsan Perdana had transferred to Najib’s private bank accounts — had originated from 1MDB’s subsidiary SRC International Sdn Bhd’s unit Gandingan Mentari Sdn Bhd.
He also stated that around July 2014, Najib had called him and asked if it was true he had transferred the RM42 million in three separate transactions. Dr Shamsul confirmed that he had made the transfers to the account without knowing who it belonged to.
Claiming that Najib had asked him why he had transferred the money into that account, Dr Shamsul said he explained that he had followed the instructions of YR1M officials and believed the RM42 million payment was for CSR purposes.
“From his reaction over the phone, it appeared to me that Datuk Seri Najib was taken aback, as I distinctly heard him mutter under his breath, ‘My God’,” he said.
After being remanded and questioned by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in July 2015, Dr Shamsul said he met Najib in the latter’s house at Jalan Langgak Duta, Kuala Lumpur where they spoke about MACC’s interrogation.
Dr Shamsul said he told Najib that he had discovered during MACC’s questioning that the account which Ihsan Perdana sent money to actually belong to the latter.
“Datuk Seri Najib was shocked. He said he does not know who is putting money into his account and why through Ihsan Perdana. From what I observed he was upset, in fact,” he said.
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