KUALA LUMPUR: A former SRC International Sdn Bhd director told the High Court today that former chief executive officer Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil was responsible for the finances of the company, specifically the RM4 billion Retirement Fund Inc. loans.
Datuk Mohammed Azhar Osman Khairuddin was testifying as the third person named in the list of third-party respondents in the US$1.18 billion SRC International civil suit against former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
In his witness statement, Azhar, 69, who was also CEO, said he was appointed as SRC director on July 29, 2014 and resigned on Feb 22, 2017.
"When I came in, I took over from Nik Faisal as CEO of the Sabah Gas Pipeline Project and the Peninsular Pipeline Project.
"But Nik Faisal remained as an executive director of SRC in charge of handling all the finances, specifically the KWAP loans," he testified before judge Datuk Ahmad Fairuz Zainol Abidin.
To a question on whether he was in charge of anything related to SRC finances or loans, Azhar said,"No, that was Nik Faisal's role and responsibility."
On June 7, 2018, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission said it was hunting for Nik Faisal as well as Low Taek Jho to be investigated in the SRC scandal.
In 2020, police sought Interpol's help to extradite Nik Faisal who was hiding in Hong Kong with his wife and child.
Meanwhile, Azhar said the two RM4 billion KWAP loans to SRC in 2011 and 2022 were granted to SRC before his appointment as director.
Azhar said he did not cause financial losses or breach his statutory and fiduciary duties as alleged by Najib.
"I cannot be in breach of duties for matters that had happened before I joined the company in 2014.
"My specific task when joining SRC was to execute and get going the projects which were two out of the three identified oil and gas projects in my role as CEO," he said.
He said this in his reply to Najib's allegations that he, along with other former SRC directors, had breached their statutory duties.
Azhar also dismissed Najib's allegations that Articles 74,75, and 78 of SRC International Memorandum of Articles; as well as Section 131B of the Companies Act 1975 gave the board exclusive powers to manage SRC.
"I categorically deny this. As far as I can tell from my time there as a director, whenever it came to finances, Nik Faisal would always begin by briefing the board of directors on the finances of SRC.
"Myself and other members of the board would direct Nik Faisal and management to come up with a plan to retrieve the monies back.
"That was all I could do given that the KWAP loans were disbursed out of SRC before my tenure as a director.
"I was also never a signatory nor ever in a position to give instructions to the accounts deposited overseas, whether in Switzerland or elsewhere," he said.
Azhar also shot down another allegation by Najib that all losses claimed by SRC, as a result of the transactions making up the proposed investment fund and the purported fund investment, were the result of various acts and omissions of the former SRC directors.
On May 7, 2021, SRC's new management initiated legal action against Najib, naming him as the first defendant, for alleged breach of trust and breach of statutory duty involving the RM4 billion KWAP loans to SRC.
The trial continues tomorrow.