KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court was told today that SRC International Sdn Bhd, instead of being a development vehicle for Malaysia, had become a victim of a large-scale, multi-jurisdictional fraud orchestrated by Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak.
Lead counsel for SRC International Datuk Lim Chee Wee said Najib did this through his wrongdoings in his multiple roles as a public officer as Prime Minister, Minister of Finance as well as Advisor Emeritus of SRC.
“In Najib’s own words, he said that SRC International has been established with the purpose as ‘a pillar to long-term sustainable economic development of Malaysia for the rakyat’.
“However, SRC became a vehicle manipulated by Najib to procure a whopping RM4 billion loan from Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (Diperbadankan) (KWAP) to enrich himself with at least US$120 million and in the process caused injury and loss to SRC and ultimately the rakyat in the sum of at least US$1.18 billion.
“The losses were accumulating and incidentally, KWAP fell under the purview of Najib when he was the Finance Minister,“ he said when reading out the opening statement on the first day of the SRC lawsuit against Najib before High Court judge Datuk Ahmad Fairuz Zainol Abidin.
Also named in the suit as defendant is former SRC International chief executive officer Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil.
In today’s proceedings, SRC’s suit against the former prime minister and Nik Faisal related to events surrounding the company after it was incorporated as a special purpose vehicle (SPV) on Jan 7, 2011, mainly to invest in the conventional and renewable energy, natural resources, and minerals sectors.
Lim further submitted that his party will prove that Najib abused his power and authority as a public officer, with full knowledge of the crime and being recklessly indifferent to the limit of his power.
“We will also demonstrate that Najib, by his actions and omissions, had intended to harm SRC with malice intent as well as the knowledge of probability that it will cause harm to SRC and was recklessly indifferent to such harm being caused,” he added.
Lim also told the court that Najib, in his role as the prime minister who is a public officer, can be sued in the tort of public office misfeasance.
SRC, under its new management, filed the suit in May 2021, claiming that Najib had committed breach of trust and power abuse, personally benefited from the company’s funds, and had misappropriated the said funds.
The company is seeking general, exemplary and additional damages, as well as interest, costs and other appropriate relief provided by the court.
It is also seeking a court declaration that Najib is responsible for the company’s losses due to his breach of duties and trust and that they demand for Najib to pay back the RM42 million in losses that they have suffered.
Najib, 70, has been serving a jail sentence at the Kajang Prison since Aug 23, 2022 after being convicted of misappropriating RM42 million in SRC International funds.
After he filed a petition for a royal pardon on Sept 2, 2022, Najib’s prison sentence was reduced from 12 years to six years and the fine was cut to RM50 million from RM210 million. –Bernama
