KUALA LUMPUR: A former 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) chief executive officer told the High Court here today that he was asked to follow fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho or Jho Low’s instruction regarding the bringing back of 1MDB fund which was invested in PetroSaudi International Ltd.
Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi, 49, said Datuk Seri Najib Razak asked him to do so after he queried the former prime minister about bringing back 1MDB’s fund which was invested in the oil service and production company.
The ninth prosecution witness said this when replying to questions asked by senior deputy public prosecutor Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram on the 12th day of Najib’s 1MDB trial.
Sri Ram: Did the accused on any occasion tell you to follow Jho Low’s instruction?
Shahrol Azral: No. Datuk Seri Najib has never told me to follow Jho Low’s instruction. However, he has indicated on one or two occasions, when I queried him about bringing back our fund that was invested with PetroSaudi.
“This was most likely in 2010 or 2011, in which Datuk Seri Najib told me to talk to Jho Low,” he said.
Meanwhile, when asked to whom TIA’s bonds worth RM5 billion were sold, the witness said that it was sold to two entities based in Singapore and Hong Kong.
He added that TIA’s bonds worth RM5 billion were sold for RM4.369 billion on May 26, 2009 through an agreement between TIA and AmInvestment Bank Berhad.
TIA was established on Feb 27, 2009 and changed its name to 1MDB on Sept 25, 2009.
“The purchaser of the bonds was identified in 2018, and the police’s commercial crime department at Bukit Aman had shown me the money trail from the bond sale. I know two entities…one based in Singapore and one based in Hong Kong. I cannot recall the names of those who had resold the bonds back to entities in Malaysia at par value.
“The police said the two entities belong to Jho Low,” he said, adding that the two entities were informed by ACP R. Rajagopal.
To another question, the witness said that he typed TIA’s letter addressed to the Prime Minister and Finance Minister (Najib) dated June 2009 in Jho Low’s bedroom at 3 Kia Peng condominium to inform him (Najib) about issues on TIA.
“As I was typing the draft, we (he and Jho Low) would take turns throughout the process,” he added.
Najib, 66, is facing four charges of having used his positions to obtain gratification totalling RM2.3 billion in 1MDB funds and 21 counts of money laundering involving the same money.
The Pekan MP allegedly committed the four corruption offences at AmIslamic Bank Berhad, Jalan Raja Chulan branch, Bukit Ceylon here between Feb 24, 2011 and Dec 19, 2014, and the money-laundering offences between March 22, 2013 and Aug 30, 2013, at the same place.
The trial before Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues tomorrow.
— BERNAMA
