Referring to an article by The Edge regarding the issue, SRC chairman Tan Sri Ismee Ismail said that he had "scolded" and "shouted" at Nik Faisal because he was under the impression that management had filed the accounts. (Photo by Patrick Goh/The Edge)

KUALA LUMPUR (June 6): Former SRC International Sdn Bhd's chairman Tan Sri Ismee Ismail was angry with the company's former chief executive officer, Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, over SRC's failure to submit its accounts for the financial year 2013, the High Court heard on Thursday.

Referring to an article by The Edge regarding the issue, Ismee said that he had "scolded" and "shouted" at Nik Faisal because he was under the impression that management had filed the accounts.

"I called him and told him, 'Nik Faisal, you’d better write a nasty [reply] to The Edge. Because I recall signing the board’s resolution to approve the accounts. Then he called me back and said we have not actually filed," Ismee said.

The article he was referring to was a May 2014 article entitled 'SRC yet to file accounts or seek extension' by Jose Barrock, which stated that the company had failed to submit its accounts for the financial year ended March 31, 2013. According to the report, the accounts were supposed to be submitted to the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM) by October 2013.

Thanks to this article by The Edge, then SRC chairman Tan Sri Ismee Ismail found out that SRC had failed to submit accounts for FY2013.

Ismee went on to add that he took it upon himself to resolve the issue and worked on closing the accounts over the next 2-3 weeks. He said he left the company shortly after as he was frustrated.

"I was the chairman of the company, but for a good two to three weeks I had to be an account executive," he said.

Previously, Ismee testified that he was appointed to the position on Aug 1, 2011, and resigned on Aug 15, 2014, due to corporate governance issues, especially with regards to the company’s accounts and its finances as managed by Nik Faisal.

"'The proof of the pudding is in the eating’. In this case, once the accounts are closed, it gives me comfort that everything [is ok]," he said, adding that there had been no suspicion that anything was amiss (that the funds were not being used for the benefit of the country).

"I was there in 2011 [until] 2013. We (the board) believed that there was communication [between Nik Faisal and Najib] and we didn't expect Nik Faisal to be a liar," he said, adding that the board did believe that the investments were for the benefit of the country at the material time.

Ismee is testifying in the on-going SRC civil action against former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Nik Faisal. The court had previously delivered a judgement in default against Nik Faisal, who is currently at large.