KUALA LUMPUR: The board of directors (BOD) of SRC International Sdn Bhd did not verify matters pertaining to the company with Datuk Seri Najib Razak but took the words of the former chief executive officer instead, the High Court heard.

In his testimony before the court yesterday, the former prime minister said there was no reason for him to direct the BOD through SRC CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil as SRC was only one of the many Minister of Finance Incorporated (MOF Inc) companies involved in national interest-related projects at that time.

“I was not in any position to micromanage any MOF Inc companies and looking at things now, it appears that Nik Faisal may have been playing both sides. To me, he would present that matters had been decided by the BOD. And to the BOD, he implied that I had directed those matters.

“What baffles me is why the other directors of SRC, including Tan Sri Ismee Ismail, did not bother to verify things with me directly and merely accepted the word of Nik Faisal, especially in relation to the company’s funds,” said Najib. Najib, 71, was reading his witness statement during the examination-in-chief conducted by his lawyer Muhammad Farhan Muhammad Shafee here yesterday.

Najib is testifying as a defendant in SRC International’s US$1.18bil civil suit against him and Nik Faisal, who is currently at large.Najib also told the court that his advice, as the Adviser Emeritus specifically, was never sought by the BOD except on two occasions when another SRC former director, Datuk Mohammed Azhar Osman Khairuddin, referred him to letters seeking his views on the National Strategic Coal Initiative and the Trans Sabah Gas Pipeline Project.

“I had minuted my approval and agreement to these projects on the letters from SRC. I understood that my advice was being sought because these were matters of strategic importance to Malaysia. It again baffles me how a BOD comprising such qualified and experienced persons could merely accept the word of Nik Faisal ‘hook, line and sinker’.

“I really doubt whether this actually happened but I’m sure the BOD minutes of meeting and other contemporaneous documents would reflect the real events but I have not viewed the same,” he said.

Under new management, SRC filed the legal action in May 2021, alleging that Najib had committed breach of trust, abuse of power, misappropriated the company’s funds and personally benefitted from it.

It named Najib along with its former directors Datuk Suboh Md Yassin, Mohammed Azhar Osman Khairuddin, Nik Faisal, Datuk Che Abdullah @ Rashidi Che Omar, Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi and Ismee in May 2021.

However, later, it removed six names from the suit and retained Najib and Nik Faisal as the first and second defendants.

Additionally, Najib has brought the former named SRC International directors as third-party respondents in the suit.

The company is seeking damages, interests, costs and a court declaration that Najib is responsible for the company’s losses due to his breach of duties and trust, and is demanding that Najib pay back the US$1.18bil (RM7.43bil) in losses that it has suffered.

It is also seeking US$120mil (RM495.76mil) and US$2mil (RM8.26mil) from Najib and Nik Faisal respectively, on account of fraudulent breach of fiduciary duties and breach of trust.

The trial before Justice Ahmad Fairuz Zainol Abidin continues today.

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2024/09/26/najib-nik-faisal-may-have-been-playing-both-sides