KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 10 — A Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) analyst at the moment instructed the High Court that he maintains his evaluation that US$20 million flowed from government-owned 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) to former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s personal AmIslamic bank account in 2011, even although the bank statement of a purported Prince Faisal’s account at Riyad Bank, Saudi Arabia was not out there for the cash trail evaluation.
BNM analyst Adam Ariff Mohd Roslan was testifying because the forty seventh prosecution witness in Najib’s trial over the misappropriation of 1MDB’s RM2.28 billion alleged to have entered the previous finance minister’s private bank accounts.
Adam Ariff insisted that his report on the cash trail on 1MDB’s US$20 million (over RM60.6 million) into Najib’s account was nonetheless legitimate because it was primarily based on different banking paperwork.
Najib’s defence lawyer Tania Scivetti this afternoon sought to problem Adam Ariff’s cash trail report on 1MDB, the place the BNM analyst had concluded that RM60,629,839.43 banked into Najib’s AmIslamic bank account (which had the code identify “AmPrivate Banking-MR”) between February 23, 2011 and June 14, 2011 could be traced again to a RM5 billion Islamic bond issued in May 2009 by 1MDB’s predecessor Terengganu Investment Authority Berhad (TIA) and a RM2.5 billion mortgage which 1MDB borrowed in 2010.
Scivetti urged that Adam Ariff couldn’t type the conclusion on the RM60.6 million sum in Najib’s account being traceable to the RM5 billion bond and RM2.5 billion mortgage “without analysing the statement of Riyad Bank account held within the identify of His Royal Highness Prince Faisal bin Turki Al Saud and His Royal Highness Prince Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud” for the February and June 2011 months.
But Adam Ariff replied: “I disagree, I stand by my report primarily based on the details out there to me, it’s traceable.”
Throughout the trial at the moment, Scivetti and Najib’s lead defence lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah had sought to problem Adam Ariff’s cash trail on 1MDB’s US$20 million (or over RM60 million primarily based on 2011 alternate charges) having reached Najib’s private account “AmPrivate Banking-MR” underneath Phase One of the 1MDB scheme.
Najib’s legal professionals’ problem was primarily based on Adam Ariff not having the purported Prince Faisal’s bank account statement when the analyst mapped out the cash trail of the US$20 million in Najib’s account.
Adam Ariff had carried out the cash trail evaluation whereas he was seconded from BNM beforehand to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) 1MDB activity power.
Bank Negara Malaysia Analyst Adam Ariff Mohd Roslan is seen on the compound following the 1 Malaysia Developement Berhad (1MDB) case on the Kuala Lumpur Court Complex, October 10, 2023. — Picture by Sayuti Zainudin
Under Phase One, 1MDB’s funds went by a fancy internet of transactions earlier than reaching Malaysian fugitive Low Taek Jho’s Good Star Limited, which then handed cash to the “Prince Faisal” bank account at Riyad Bank, which then additional handed the US$20 million to Najib’s AmIslamic account, the cash trail by Adam Ariff confirmed.
Earlier this morning, Shafee zeroed in on Adam Ariff’s cash trail report, the place the analyst had stated it’s moderately believed that the Riyad Bank account underneath the identify of “Prince Faisal” was used as a pass-through account to switch cash from Good Star to Najib’s account, primarily based on the proximity of the dates and the quantity of the transfers of funds between these accounts.
Adam Ariff confirmed that MACC didn’t present him with any Riyad Bank paperwork, including that he did request for them however was instructed by a MACC investigating officer that the paperwork weren’t out there. He agreed with Shafee’s suggestion that these Riyad Bank paperwork weren’t out there to MACC, and confirmed he did ask MACC to attempt to receive these paperwork.
Without the Riyad Bank account’s bank paperwork, Adam Ariff confirmed he didn’t understand how energetic the Riyad Bank account was and that he would additionally not know if there have been different sources of cash into the Riyad Bank account other than Good Star.
While agreeing with Shafee that he wouldn’t give you the chance to make a conclusion “in a scientific manner” that the US$20 million in Najib’s account in 2011 did come from Good Star, Adam Ariff disagreed that his cash trail report was simply “clever guesswork”.
Shafee: So what you may have completed, the following neatest thing you probably did was, you gave an opinion primarily based on clever guesswork.
Adam Ariff: I disagree.
Adam Ariff defined that he nonetheless had proof from each earlier than and after the Riyad Bank account’s switch of the US$20 million to Najib’s account and that he felt this was adequate for his evaluation even without the Riyad Bank account paperwork, saying that this proof confirmed that Good Star’s transfers originated from 1MDB and the cash was acquired by the Riyad Bank account.
Adam Ariff denied that he was making a “guess” that Good Star cash had handed by the Riyad Bank account to Najib, however agreed it could possibly be thought of as an assumption.
He confirmed he wouldn’t know if there may be any deal between Good Star and the Riyad Bank account’s holders and if any such deal might don’t have anything to do with the cash handed to Najib.
Without the Riyad Bank account paperwork being made out there to him, Adam Ariff later additionally agreed with Shafee that he wouldn’t give you the chance to verify whether or not it’s attainable that the US$20 million from the Riyad Bank account to Najib got here from one other supply.
Adam Ariff nonetheless disagreed that his conclusion on the US$20 million from Good Star by way of the Riyad Bank account to Najib in 2011 was made to be “in line” with the MACC’s directions to him, as an alternative stressing that it was primarily based on details from all of the banking paperwork offered to him and which he had reviewed.
“To be in line, no. It’s primarily based on the truth that was given to me, primarily based on the papers, the dates are shut, the quantities are the identical, due to this fact I consider it’s the identical supply,” he stated, agreeing that this was his cheap perception primarily based on proximity of time of the transactions.
But when requested concerning the chart which he had ready to present how US$20 million of 1MDB funds ended up in Najib’s account, Adam Ariff stated he would wish the bank statements of 1MDB and Good Star accounts, however stated he doesn’t want to have the Riyad Bank account’s bank statements to hint the motion of cash.
“I can verify there may be transactions between the 2 events, so I don’t want the Riyad Bank account to verify there may be motion of funds between the 2 events,” he stated.
Adam Ariff stated Good Star’s bank account paperwork may verify there was cash paid out to Prince Faisal, and that Najib’s AmIslamic bank account paperwork additionally confirmed that cash was paid out from Prince Faisal’s Riyad Bank account to Najib.
“Even without Riyad Bank, from AmPrivate Banking-MR account, I can verify there may be transaction from Riyad Bank account to AmPrivate Banking, as a result of that’s the paperwork and details offered to me, that’s what I’ve established on this specific motion of funds,” he instructed Shafee this morning, stressing that the motion of funds may nonetheless be established from the out there bank paperwork.
In the afternoon, Scivetti challenged Adam Ariff’s conclusion, with the BNM analyst then saying he stood by his evaluation of the cash trail.
Najib was seen carrying a blue go well with with a crimson tie, whereas his spouse Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor was seen sitting within the public gallery of the courtroom at the moment.
Najib’s 1MDB trial earlier than trial decide Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah resumes tomorrow, with the defence legal professionals anticipated to additional cross-examine Adam Ariff.
On the primary day of trial, the prosecution had stated it might present that 1MDB funds had been transferred in a number of transactions to Najib’s accounts, particularly US$20 million equal to RM60,629,839.43 or over RM60 million from the primary part, US$30 million equal to RM90,899,927.28 or over RM90 million (second part), US$681 million equal to RM2,081,476,926 or over RM2 billion (third part), and transactions in British pound that had been equal to RM4,093,500 and RM45,837,485.70 or a mixed complete of RM49,930,985.70 million or over RM49 million (fourth part).
The conclusions in Adam Ariff’s 76-page cash trail report on how RM2.28 billion reached Najib’s two AmIslamic bank accounts in 4 phases matches the 4 phases acknowledged by the prosecution.
