Defence lawyer Harvinderjit Singh said this when the chairman of the three-member bench, Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil, asked why millions of ringgit were transferred into the former prime minister’s accounts.
Karim: Why were RM5 million and RM27 million put into Najib’s accounts in December 2014?
(Another RM10 million was deposited into Najib’s accounts in February 2015.)
Harvinderjit: Only Jho Low can answer it. My theory is that the RM27 million was put into Najib’s account because Joanna Yu Ging Ping (a former AmBank relationship manager) told Jho Low that the account balance was running low.
Karim, who is hearing the appeal with Has Zanah Mehat and Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera, also asked Harvinderjit about Jho Low’s involvement in SRC International as the latter had no formal position in SRC.
The lawyer said Jho Low had come into the picture to handle Najib’s accounts as he could move money with the assistance of an operative in SRC, Terence Geh, an executive in the financial department.
Earlier, Harvinderjit submitted that Jho Low was involved in the convoluted monetary trail involving the accounts of SRC, Gandingan Mentari Sdn Bhd, Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd and Najib.
The lawyer also said Jho Low and several others were involved in the monetary transfers associated with Najib’s accounts and that the former prime minister had no knowledge of it.
“Why would the then prime minister knowingly take money from a government-linked company (SRC) and put it into his accounts?” asked the lawyer.
Last July, High Court Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali sentenced Najib to 12 years’ jail and ordered him to pay a RM210 million fine after finding him guilty of seven corruption charges in relation to RM42 million belonging to SRC International, a former unit of 1MDB.
He is accused of abusing his power as prime minister by giving government guarantees on SRC International’s RM4 billion loan from Retirement Fund Inc.
He also faced three criminal breach of trust and three money laundering charges in relation to RM42 million belonging to SRC International.
The hearing continues.