KUALA LUMPUR, April 22 (NNN-BERNAMA) — Abu Talib Alias, the secretary of UMNO Johor Bahru, the southern division of the UMNO political party, today told the court that he had received a cheque worth RM300,000 from the party president in 2015.
The 10th witness at the ongoing trial of former Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, said he received the cheque from the Senior Private Secretary of Najib, the late Datuk Seri Azlin Alias, at the Prime Minister’s department in Putrajaya.
Abu Talib said upon receiving a call earlier from Azlin on the matter, he had informed the division head about it and he was then directed to receive the cheque.
“When I was at the said office, I was give a white envelope. I opened it and saw a cheque written in the name of Umno Johor Bahru division,” he said during questioning from Deputy Public Prosecutor Muhammad Saifuddin Hashim Musaimi, during the trial, which entered its sixth day.
Abu Talib said later on the same day, he deposited the cheque at the Putrajaya Maybank branch.
During cross examination by Najib’s counsel,Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, he said the RM300,000 was used by the division for various activities ‘party activities.
Najib, 66, is facing three counts of criminal breach of trust, one charge of abusing his position and three counts of money laundering over SRC International funds amounting to RM42 million.
Meanwhile, the court earlier heard that a cheque amounting to RM50,000 was also made to Umno Padang Serai division chief Datuk Asmadi Abu Talib directly and not the party’s division bank account.
This came after AmBank cheque processing centre senior manager Badrul Hisham Mohamadn told the High Court here last week that cheques worth more than RM25mil were issued by accounts suspected to be linked to Najib and SRC International Sdn Bhd, a former of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).
The trial before Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali is in progress.
— NNN-BERNAMA
