MACC blocks Najib from getting info about his bank account

KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Razak today complained that he had been unable to access information about his bank account.

He said this was because the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) had directed his bank to stop giving him any information about the account.

The former prime minister's lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah told High Court Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali he was shocked over the agency's action.

"This is clearly an act of oppression and victimisation.

"It is also a blatant abuse of the process. I don't know what law they are applying in issuing such a directive to the bank," he said.

Shafee said no one had any right to prevent an account holder to access information about his own account.

He said Najib had been able to get all such information until a bank officer called him about the MACC directive which they received via a letter recently.

"The bank officer was in near panic when he told my client about the directive.

"What kind of nonsense is this," he said, adding Najib needed access to information about his bank account as part of preparations for his ongoing trial.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Datuk V Sithambaram told the judge this was the first time he was hearing of the matter and promised to check with the MACC over what was going on.

"I will revert to this court first thing on Monday," he said, after the matter was brought up at the end of today's proceedings of Najib's trial involving abuse of SRC International funds.