[ad_1]
KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court today rejected Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s (pix) lawsuit against AmBank and his former relations manager, Joanna Yu Ging Ping, for allegedly mishandling their bank accounts by disclosing transactions to fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho or Jho Low .
Judge Datuk Khadijah Idris ruled that Najib’s lawsuit was scandalous, vexatious, frivolous and abusive of the judicial process.
The judge made the decision after allowing AmBank, AMMB Holdings Berhad and Yu, as defendants, to reject the lawsuit filed by Najib on December 9 last year.
Judge Khadijah said that Najib’s legal claim against the three defendants was an abuse of the judicial process, as he did so for a collateral purpose in his criminal trial in the SRC International Sdn Bhd case.
“This action (lawsuit) of the plaintiff is not to seek damages but for a collateral purpose to strengthen the plaintiff’s (defense) in the SRC case and therefore an abuse of the judicial process,” he said.
The judge further said that the plaintiff (Najib) had initiated the legal claim after Yu testified in SRC’s trial and when the prosecution in Had’s case argued that he (Najib) never complained or sued the defendants. (Yu and AmBank) for the alleged manipulation of their bank accounts by a third party.
Yu was the 54th prosecution witness in SRC’s trial.
The judge said that the plaintiff’s claim that he had only found out about the manipulation of his accounts by Yu, during the trial, was untenable.
“Based on these grounds, the defendants’ request to sue is allowed,” the judge said.
The court ordered Najib to pay costs of RM30,000 to AmBank entities and RM25,000 to Yu.
Lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, who represented Najib, said he will file an appeal against today’s verdict.
Lawyer Yoong Sin Min acted for Ambank while Datuk Gurdial Singh Nijar represented Yu.
Najib in his claim statement, argued that AmBank and Yu had been negligent in handling their bank accounts (ending in 694, 880, 898 and 906) by disclosing them to Jho Low.
Najib claimed that the unauthorized defendants had disclosed their bank statements, credit and debit remittance transactions, and fund balances in account 694 to Low as a third party.
He claimed that the defendants did not engage with him to report Low’s action on those bank accounts and that the bank had facilitated an unauthorized third party to make money transfers between accounts 880, 898 and 906.
The Pekan member of Parliament maintained that the bank had kept him in the dark about the details of its own bank account statements and other related documents under Low’s instructions.
It alleged that Low, with the help of other unauthorized third parties, had made 20 transactions to regularize the accounts totaling RM12 million through various local and foreign fund remittances and that the accounts had been ‘flagged’ by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM).
The former prime minister said the defendants did not report or receive direct instructions from him despite the accounts being on alert.
Najib also claimed that he only discovered the acts committed by the defendants during the SRC International trial after the prosecution disclosed the conversations between Yu and the third parties.
Look for special, general, aggravated and exemplary damages of the accused.
On July 28, Kuala Lumpur High Court Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali found guilty and sentenced Najib to 12 years in prison and fined him RM 210 million for the SRC International criminal case. –Called
[ad_2]
