SRC International meant for rakyat, but Najib benefitted
07 Jul 2025 05:07pm
Datuk Seri Najib Razak - BERNAMA FILE PIX
KUALA LUMPUR - The High Court here was told today that although SRC International Sdn Bhd was intended to serve the rakyat, in reality, it was used to benefit Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
Lawyer Datuk Lim Chee Wee, representing the company, submitted that instead of fulfilling its intended public purpose, SRC International became both a vehicle and a victim of large-scale fraud, with the former premier as its primary beneficiary.
He was submitting during the hearing of SRC International's US$1.18 billion civil suit against Najib and former SRC chief executive officer Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, who is currently at large.
"The very funds misappropriated through SRC were pensioners' money from the Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP). While SRC International suffered a devastating loss of US$1.18 billion, the first defendant (Najib) personally received US$120 million into his own accounts and RM42 million, which is the subject of a separate suit.
"He also utilised his role as the shadow director of the company, where he controlled the company's board via shareholder resolutions on important macro-decisions that ought to have been made by the SRC board itself,' said the lawyer.
Lim further said that, as the shadow director of the company, Najib signed shareholder resolutions to approve and obtain the RM4 billion of the KWAP loan and to disburse RM3.6 billion from that loan for illegitimate purposes.
"This culminated in Najib being the ultimate mastermind behind the catastrophic loss of US$1.18 billion,' he said this before Judge Datuk Ahmad Fairuz Zainol Abidin. The hearing continues tomorrow.
In May 2021, SRC, under its new management, filed the suit, claiming that Najib had committed a breach of trust and power abuse, personally benefitted from the company's funds, and misappropriated the said funds.
It also seeks a court declaration that Najib is responsible for the company's losses due to his breach of duties and trust and for Najib to pay back the RM42 million in losses that they have suffered.
Najib is currently serving a jail term in Kajang Prison for the misappropriation of RM42 million in the SRC International funds case.
On Sept 2, 2022, he filed a petition for a royal pardon, which led to the Pardons Board halving his jail term from 12 to six years and reducing the fine from RM210 million to RM50 million on Jan 29, 2024. - BERNAMA
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