At the ongoing trial of Najib over the misappropriation of RM2.28 billion of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) funds, the 41st prosecution witness, a former relationship manager at AmBank who handled Najib's account when queried by the defence lawyer, confirmed that the former prime minister had not given any written authority for another party to handle his private bank accounts (The Edge Markets).
During cross-examination by Najib's lead counsel, the 41st prosecution witness testified that she liaised with Jho Low despite Low not having any authorisation to handle the account, as he was the one who initiated the opening of the bank account.
The defence lawyer also asked the former banker whether it was a failure on her part, to which she admitted yes on why she did not alert Najib on an US$800mil transaction that went into his personal account.
On 12 October 2022, the 39th prosecution witness, the former AmBank Managing Director (MD) when queried by the prosecution, told the High Court that he went to Najib’s private residence in Jalan Langgak Duta in 2011 to help open the former prime minister’s bank accounts and it was Jho Low who introduced him to Najib at that time (The Edge Markets).
If the 39th prosecution witness, who was formerly the boss to the 41st prosecution witness admitted in the High Court that he has to go to Najib’s private residence to get him to sign the forms for the opening of bank accounts with Ambank, do you think Najib will answer a call or a query from the 41st prosecution witness, who was a lower ranked employee, alerting him on the large sums of monies being remitted into his personal bank accounts?
It is obvious that Najib would not know anyone from Ambank except probably for the 39th prosecution witness who is the MD of the bank and who went to his house to obtain his signature to open his bank accounts at the bank.
The Relationship Manager probably only has the number of the general line of the Prime Minister’s Department.
Najib was the Prime Minister and the most powerful person in Malaysia at that time.
If the 41st prosecution witness, even though is a relationship manager that handles his accounts, can pick up the phone and dial her client who is the Prime Minister directly, it would be a serious breach of security protocol on the part of the PM’s security details.
Let’s get real.
It was obvious the 41st prosecution witness does not have direct access to her client, Najib.
If she did have direct access, she would probably be the MD of the bank instead of just a relationship manager.
She should or probably did, document it in an email or a written note to her immediate superior and copied the same to the MD of the bank on the US$800mil transaction that went into Najib’s personal account.
Maybe, probably at that point, she did not find the unusually large amount of significance considering that her client is the Prime Minister and also the Finance Minister of the country.
Or probably, she would have thought that her bosses in the bank have prior knowledge of the matter and she just proceeds with the tasks on her hand, more so when the subject matter belongs to the Prime Minister and Finance Minister of the country.
Lesson learnt from this ongoing trial.
If you are an employee, document every instruction or issue you may have and send it to your immediate superiors and those in the top management.
Share it as widely as possible with your immediate superiors and those higher-up management in your organisation.
It is normal for lower-ranked employees to feel elated and privileged when they are instructed or tasked by their bosses to handle the client relationship with high-powered luminaries.
Being instructed to handle the relationship with such clients, however, does not mean you will have direct access to them.
If the clients were to ask you to keep everything confidential, do not take it that the instruction or request is for you to keep it confidential and away from the knowledge of your immediate superiors and the topmost level management of the company you are working in.
As the 41st prosecution witness revealed in court, the fallout from the way she handled her client’s accounts resulted in her being terminated by the bank (FMT).
She did not steal or misused her client’s monies. The client did not lose any monies as a result of the way the relationship manager managed the account.
The alleged failure is not her fault.
It is the fault of the entire senior management in the bank, including the board of directors, the risk management and committee members.
Did she benefit personally during the period while she was assigned to handle this account?
If she had, probably criminal charges would have been instituted against her by now.
Now that she is jobless, she has no value even to Jho Low, the person she was in contact with in managing Najib’s account with the bank.
Why aren’t all the people along the entire relevant chain of command in the bank above the Relationship Manager called for questioning?
It is not that this Relationship Manager went rogue in her work.
All those above her in the bank’s organizational structure are negligent and failed in discharging their duties and responsibilities.
There is definitely a breakdown of order with all those in positions of power above the relationship manager managing Najib’s accounts with their bank.
And it is sad that the regulator i.e Bank Negara only deems it fit to fine the bank but let off all the senior management and the board of directors of the bank for their role in this subject matter individually.
Each and every person that is in positions of power especially the MD, the Risks Management, and the entire board of directors in the bank were complicit and are accessory to the whole issue.
They have full knowledge and facilitated the remittance into Najib’s bank accounts with their bank.
And in the aftermath of the whole affair, it is merely a lowly rank relationship manager that is being put through the whole pony show and shamed and grilled in full public glare.
So fellow Malaysians and those who are an employee, this will be the most important lesson in your working life.
In the process of your work, please take the time to sit down and document your work, be it instruction or on matters which you felt are out of the ordinary especially when it comes from those in the upper management.
If the instructions result in some criminality involved later on, you, being at the bottom of the food chain in the company hierarchical structure, are likely to be made the scapegoat to answer for the events that happened.
Your bosses or those atop you in the chain of command, who are paid a thousand times more than you, are likely to walk away unscathed and could probably be holidaying somewhere with their families while you have to spend time going in and out of courts or being interviewed by the authorities.
Even though the relationship manager is not the subject matter in this case, she has to undertake and participate in all these court sessions at her own costs.
As an employee, with many layers of management on top of you in the organization structure, you are the most vulnerable.
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