KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 4 (NNN-BERNAMA) — Former special officer to Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak was very surprised when told that he had US$884,996.78 in his BSI Switzerland account in early 2016 but he had never used the money and did not know its status until now because it was managed by fugitive businessman, Low Taek Jho also known as Jho Low.
Datuk Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin, 43, when reading his witness statement said he had received a call from BSI Switzerland where a BSI officer had asked if he knew the balance in his account.
“I replied that I did not know. He told me that there was US$884,996.78 in my account. I felt very surprised because I did not know anything about the money. I asked the bank officer to give his opinion on the cash deposits into the account, but the bank officer just said that he would contact me again.
“On another occasion, I was contacted by an officer from BSI and was told that my relationship with the bank would be terminated and I was required to transfer the funds to a company under my name or another account in my name. I had referred the matter to Jho Low because at that time there was an instruction to contact him (Jho Low) if there was any question on the account,”he said.
The eighth prosecution witness said this during examination-in-chief by Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Ahmad Akram Gharib on the fourth day of the trial of former prime minister Najib who is charged on four counts of using his position to obtain a bribe totalling RM2.3 billion in 1MDB funds and 21 charges of money laundering involving the same amount of money.
The witness added, Jho Low subsequently instructed him to open a bank account in Shanghai as at that time there were dealings in China and there was a need to go there.
Amhari Efendi explained that Jho Low had personally assisted in opening the account but the application to open the account was unsuccessful.
“He (Jho Low) did not say why the application to open the account was unsuccessful. Later, he directed me to go to Bangkok to open an account at the Kasikornbank.
“The process of opening the account had been assisted by a Thai national named Oada, who was an acquaintance of Jho Low and not the bank official, but I don’t remember his name. The bank account in Bangkok was successfully opened immediately.
“When the bank account in Bangkok was successfully opened, I had sent a letter to BSI Switzerland by fax at the Shangri-La Hotel, Dubai to transfer funds in the BSI account to the Kasikornbank account and close the BSI account, during my working visit to Dubai on Sept 28 2016,” he said, adding that Jho Low had instructed him not to send by fax using a Malaysian number.
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