Datuk Shamsul Anwar Sulaiman is pictured at the Kuala Lumpur High Court May 15, 2019. — Picture by Ahmad Zamzahuri
KUALA LUMPUR, May 15 — Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd was given RM40 million in annual grants from Yayasan 1MDB (Y1MDB) and Yayasan Rakyat 1Malaysia (YR1M) to conduct Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes in areas held by Barisan Nasional (BN) or Umno, the High Court heard today.
Ihsan Perdana’s director Datuk Shamsul Anwar Sulaiman, testifying as the 37th prosecution witness in Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s trial over RM42 million from SRC International Sdn Bhd, also revealed BN lawmakers and Umno division leaders were the ones who decided the beneficiaries of these schemes.
“Y1MDB gave funds of RM20 million a year to Ihsan Perdana to organise CSR in Malay areas won by Umno or BN, while YR1M gave funds amounting to RM20 million a year to Ihsan Perdana to organise CSR programmes in Chinese and Indian areas won by Umno or BN,” he told the High Court today.
He also said that of the RM40 million Ihsan Perdana received annually, some RM5 million would be allocated for their annual operational costs.
It was previously revealed in court that a total of RM42 million from Ihsan Perdana made its way into two personal accounts of Najib between December 2014 and February 2015, in three tranches of RM27 million, RM5 million, and RM10 million.
Today, Shamsul Anwar explained how Ihsan Perdana was a company formed to handle CSR projects and was not profit-oriented, with all its funding coming from the grants given by Y1MDB and YR1M.
Some of the CSR activities organised by Ihsan Perdana, he said, included sending village chiefs and religious leaders for the hajj pilgrimage, repair works on dilapidated homes of the poor, assisting fishermen, and special assistance to Orang Asli settlements.
Former prime minister Najib is currently on trial over seven charges including money laundering and criminal breach of trust over the RM42 million belonging to former 1MDB subsidiary SRC International Sdn Bhd.
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