KUALA LUMPUR: A former Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (KWAP) assistant vice-president today said the pensioners fund was under intense pressure to proceed with a RM3.95 billion loan application from SRC International in 2011.
Amirul Imran Ahmat said this happened when the pensioners fund received the loan application and was pushed to approve it quickly.
He said this was done even though SRC International failed to submit sufficient documentation for the loan approval.
However, he did not reveal who had pressured KWAP to rush the approval.
He said KWAP received the loan application from SRC International on June 3, 2011, and the offer letter was issued on Aug 23 and signed three days later.
“At my level we were under a lot of pressure,” he said when asked by deputy public prosecutor Datuk Ishak Mohd Yusoff.
Earlier, Amirul said he had received an email from SRC International ex-chief executive officer Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil saying that the company was unable to disclose further information requested by KWAP as the projects it planned to undertake were still in the planning stage of development.
This included the Bandar Malaysia project, Kuala Lumpur International Financial District (KLIFD) and others which were undertaken by 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), which wanted to stand as a guarantor for the loan.
Amirul will continue giving his testimony on Monday.
Earlier, the court also heard how much former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak earned from 2009 until he was given a RM1 million special payment when he left office, last year.
A prosecution witness testified that Najib earned RM48,681.65 monthly between January and April 2009.
Zarina Yusof who is the deputy accountant in the accounts department of the Prime Minister’s Office said the former prime minister’s payslip from May 2009 to April 2018 showed that he took home RM58,605.15.
She said the difference in salaries was due to Najib being the deputy prime minister before April 2009, when he was then made prime minister.
She said Najib was given RM1 million in May 2018 as special payment to the former prime minister.
Such “special payment”, she said, was given to all outgoing prime ministers.
Zarina said Najib’s salary used to be banked in his Affin Bank account.
Earlier, another witness Farah Nurdiana Azhar, 43, who is an administrative officer in Parliament testified that all elected members of parliament (MP) were entitled to a monthly allowance of RM25,700.
She said Najib received RM6,508.59 allowance as an MP and RM3, 846.59 allowance as Prime Minister between 2011 and 2014.
She said for the period between January 2015 and March 2018, his MP allowance was raised to RM16,000 while the other allowance remain the same.
“His monthly allowance from 2015 to 2018 was RM19, 846.59,” she said.
Asked by Najib’s lawyer Harvinderjit Singh if she knew whether the former prime minsiter had other sources of income, she said it was beyond her knowledge.
Najib, 66, is facing seven charges involving RM42 million in SRC International funds.
This includes three counts of criminal breach of trust (CBT) and one count of abuse of power over funds amounting to RM42 million linked to SRC International.
He is also facing three money laundering charges over the same fund.
He faces up to 20 years jail and fine for the offences.