KUALA LUMPUR – SRC International Sdn Bhd’s former director Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi today told the high court here that he was not arrested over the company’s transactions, but was barred from travelling overseas.
Shahrol Azral, 54, testified as a third party in SRC International’s US$1.18 billion civil suit against Datuk Seri Najib Razak and its former chief executive officer Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil.
He also added that however, his passport had never been impounded by Immigration.
“I checked with Immigration…only then I saw my name under travel restrictions. I have never been arrested.
“The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission took my statements in 2015 but I was not detained,” he said when queried by the former prime minister’s counsel Harvinderjit Singh.
Previously, in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd trial before judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah, Shahrol Azral testified that overseas travel restrictions were only placed on him from July 2018 until early 2020.
Meanwhile, in his witness statement, Shahrol Azral made it clear that he was never charged with any offence on the loss and damage SRC International suffered regarding the misappropriation of the RM4 billion fund from the Retirement Fund Inc loan.
SRC, under its new management, filed the suit in May 2021. It claimed that Najib had committed a breach of trust and power abuse, personally benefited from the company’s funds, and misappropriated the said funds.
It also seeks a court declaration that Najib is responsible for the company’s losses due to his breach of duties and trust and for Najib to pay back the RM42 million in losses.
Najib, 70, has been serving a jail sentence at the Kajang Prison since August 23, 2022, after being convicted of misappropriating RM42 million in SRC International funds.
He then filed a petition for a royal pardon on September 2, 2022. On January 29 this year, the Pardons Board reduced Najib’s jail term from 12 years to six, with the fine cut to RM50 million from RM210 million.
The trial before judge Datuk Ahmad Fairuz Zainol Abidin continues on Wednesday. – April 15, 2024