Najib, Jho Low, Nik Faisal — who’s the bigger boss? I don’t know, says SRC trial witness

KUALA LUMPUR (July 30): Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak may be “Bossku” in the current political landscape, but the prosecution and a key witness in the ongoing SRC trial had a hard time agreeing with each other, if that was the case when it comes to the management of his AmBank accounts in 2014-2015.

At the High Court yesterday, Najib’s defence lawyer Harvinderjit Singh brought up a BlackBerry chat between prosecution witness Joanna Yu and fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, more well known as Jho Low, some time in May 2014. 

In the chat, Jho Low told Yu, the former AmBank relationship manager for Najib’s accounts, during cross-examination, that 15 American pies — referring to US$15 million — was coming into one of the three said accounts.

It has been revealed in court that Yu and Low uses food names to refer to currencies in their conversations: pies for American dollars, satay for Malaysian ringgit, and chips for British pounds.

“He said ‘Big Boss’ called,” said Yu about Low alerting her to the incoming US$15 million.

”Who is Big Boss?” Harvinderjit asked. 

“I assume it is the account holder [Najib],” Yu said. 

“But he [Jho Low] uses the term MNR for the account holder, isn’t it?” Harvinderjit responded.

“I am not sure who is the bigger boss,” Yu quipped, to the amusement of those present in the court room — including Najib himself, who appeared to be shaking with laughter upon hearing Yu’s statement. 

It is unclear as to who Yu was comparing Najib to. Earlier, Harvinderjit has asserted that Low was the one pulling the strings in relation to transactions into Najib’s three AmBank accounts at the time.

This was because Yu was never in communication with Najib, while former SRC International Sdn Bhd chief executive and Najib’s account mandate holder Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil was only there to formalise Jho Low’s instruction, suggested Harvinderjit.

Yu, the 54th prosecution witness in the trial, has testified that she communicated more heavily with Low instead of Nik Faisal when discussing matters in relation to Najib’s account — but insisted that it is the ‘written instructions’, referring to formal instruction letters from Nik as the account mandate holder, that the bank and herself would act upon.

Nik Faisal's role has been downplayed by Harvinderjit, who cited the former's BBM conversation with Yu where he called himself a nobody and a 'ciku' — a tiny tropical fruit also known as Sapodilla.

The trial is for Najib’s seven counts of money laundering and abuse of power involving RM42 million allegedly siphoned from SRC into his personal accounts.

Hearing continues tomorrow, before High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali.

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