No deals with government to drop suit - Former SRC director

KUALA LUMPUR - SRC International Sdn Bhd’s former director Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi denied that he had a resolution with the government to have the US$1.18 billion civil suit against him dropped, the High Court here heard today.

Shahrol Azral, 54, who is testifying as a third party in SRC International’s lawsuit against Datuk Seri Najib Razak and its former chief executive officer Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, said in fact, he did not know why the company had dropped his name from the list of defendants.

"I did not ask why the suit against me was dropped,” said Shahrol Azral when queried by the former prime minister’s counsel Harvinderjit Singh.

Harvinderjit: This present case was filed in May 2021. Later, SRC International withdrew its civil action against you. You were at that time, however, giving evidence in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad trial?

Shahrol Azral: Correct.

Harvinderjit: You resigned from SRC International because you saw something fishy?

Shahrol Azral: No ... I left the company because at that material time I was focusing on 1MDB. At that time, 1MDB was embarking on the Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) and Bandar Malaysia project.

Shahrol Azral served as the chief executive officer (CEO) of 1MDB from March 2009 to March 2013. He was a director of SRC from Aug 1, 2011 until May 15, 2012.

SRC previously removed five former directors including Shahrol Azral from the suit and only retained Najib as the sole defendant.

However, later on, the High Court granted permission to Najib to issue third-party notices against them in the lawsuit filed by the company against him.

SRC, under its new management, filed the suit in May 2021, claiming that Najib had committed a breach of trust and power abuse, personally benefited from the company’s funds, and misappropriated the said funds.

It is also seeking 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 that they have suffered.

Najib, 70, has been serving a jail sentence at the Kajang Prison since Aug 23, 2022 after being convicted of misappropriating RM42 million in SRC International funds.

He then filed a petition for a royal pardon on Sept 2, 2022, and the Pardons Board on Jan 29 this year 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 tomorrow. - BERNAMA