Singapore, Dec. 4 -- Malaysia's former prime minister Najib Razak yesterday took the stand to answer charges that he illegally received RM42 million (S$13.7 million) from SRC International, a sub-unit of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
Najib maintained that SRC was set up with good intentions to diversify the country's energy resources, and denied having any influence over the firm's investments and its massive debt accumulation later.
While chronicling 1MDB and SRC's inception, Najib said that the federal government had, out of goodwill, bailed out 1MDB's predecessor Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA) after it issued Islamic bonds without prior agreement between the state government and Menteri Besar Terengganu Incorporated, th...