News by Timothy Achariam

In hearing the application put forth by Najib's lawyers, Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah ruled that the defence be given access to the documents, which are currently being held by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

He said this in reply to Thomas' retort during the cross-examination, as the latter accused Najib of doing nothing when the funds were revealed to be transferred overseas.

Najib said the movement of the money was an operational matter, and that as the Finance Minister and advisor emeritus of SRC, he was only concerned with policy matters.

As such, Thomas alleged that the decisions were made solely on Najib's directives without going through any board of directors.

This is despite attorney-general Tan Sri Tommy Thomas bringing out the KWAP investment paper to the board that initially recommended a RM1 billion cap, followed by minutes of the second meeting by the fund’s investment panel where its chairman Tan Sri Wan Abdul Aziz Wan Abdullah said Najib had told him that “RM2 billion was sufficient”.

He questioned the authenticity of some 15 documents that had been tendered in court, which he initially agreed contain his signature, but now questioned their authenticity.

Replying to questions from his lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, the former premier said at that time, there were massive floods happening in the east coast states of Peninsular Malaysia, especially in Kelantan.

...and about RM3.28 million was spent with Swiss luxury jeweller De Grisogono in Sardinia, Italy. Najib said the jewelry were to be gifts, and it was his prerogative to spend the RM42 million that ended up in his accounts at his discretion, for the benefit of Malaysia.

In a statement to the media, Vell Paari said the action he had filed against his father was to protect him against his former mistress Meeriam Rosaline a/p Edward Paul, who has initiated legal proceedings at the Ipoh High Court against Samy Vellu and himself.

"I cannot explain this. I am utterly shocked that the bank deals with Jho Low although the power was only given to [former SRC International Sdn Bhd managing director] Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil. I have never allowed Jho Low to deal with the bank over my banking accounts and I was not informed [about] this," said Najib.