1MDB CEO says unaware if 1MDB's top management met BSI bankers
NAJIB TRIAL | Former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi today testified as to be unaware whether three members of the sovereign wealth fund’s management had met with two BSI bankers in Singapore as part of an alleged conspiracy to launder billions of funds.
During open-court proceedings at the Kuala Lumpur High Court today, the seventh prosecution witness testified that he only knew that in June 2012, Jasmine Loo, Terence Geh and Azmi Tahir had gone to Singapore to look into the matter of funds related to Brazen Sky Limited.
NAJIB 1MDB TRIAL | Former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi today testified as to be unaware whether three members of the sovereign wealth fund’s management had met with two BSI bankers in Singapore as part of an alleged conspiracy to launder billions of funds.
During open-court proceedings at the Kuala Lumpur High Court today, the seventh prosecution witness testified that he only knew that in June 2012, Jasmine Loo, Terence Geh and Azmi Tahir had gone to Singapore to look into the matter of funds related to Brazen Sky Limited.
Loo was 1MDB general counsel, Geh was the fund’s finance director and Azmi was the fund’s then chief finance officer (CFO). They were alleged to have gone to Singapore in June 2012 to meet with then BSI bankers Yeo Jia Wei and Yak Yew Chee.
It was reported that Yeo and Yak were later convicted and jailed by the Singapore court in relation to the 1MDB scandal. Yeo was formerly a wealth planner with Swiss bank BSI, while Yak was formerly managing director of BSI.
During cross-examination at former premier Najib Abdul Razak's RM2.28 billion corruption trial, defence counsel Mohd Shafee Abdullah grilled Shahrol (above) on whether he was aware that Loo, Geh and Azmi had met the two BSI bankers as part of an alleged conspiracy to launder money from 1MDB. Shahrol replied he was not aware of any such meeting then.
Shafee also questioned whether then prime minister Najib would know about the contents of such a meeting as Shahrol himself testified not knowing about it to which the witness said he could not answer for Najib.
Shafee: Are you aware that the critical meeting of the three top 1MDB (people namely Loo, Geh, and Azmi) was to conspire with the (two) BSI bankers to do an unlawful thing?
Shahrol: I was not aware (at the time).
Shafee: This meeting, you do not know the contents, so Najib surely could not know about the meeting?
Shahrol: I cannot testify on that.
Shafee: I expect that as you are a good deflector.
The lawyer then said that the alleged conspiracy was part of a larger plot to misappropriate billions of ringgit from 1MDB’s joint venture with Petrosaudi International (PSI) to which Shahrol maintained that he was unaware.
According to a report by the US Department of Justice (DOJ), substantial parts of billions of ringgit that originated from 1MDB's joint venture with PSI were allegedly misappropriated and thus began a series of financial acrobatics to purportedly cover up the losses.
According to the DOJ, 1MDB had invested US$1.83 billion in its joint venture with PetroSaudi, but US$1.03 billion was siphoned to Good Star Ltd for the benefit of Low and his associates between 2009 and 2011.
The joint venture shares were later converted to Islamic debt notes which the DOJ said were "valued at approximately US$2.22 billion even though at least US$1.03 billion had been diverted from 1MDB's stated investment in the joint venture".
In 2012, 1MDB exchanged the Islamic debt notes for a 49 percent stake in PetroSaudi Oil Services Ltd which was purportedly equivalent to US$2.22 billion even though it had net assets of only US$93.6 million at the time.
This stake was later redeemed in the form of promissory notes and then "invested" into "fund units" in Bridge Global Absolute Return Fund SPC, an obscure fund registered in the Cayman Islands and managed by Bridge Partners.
During the proceedings today, the atmosphere turned tense when Shafee accused Shahrol of having made a deal with the prosecution to “sing like a bird” for Najib’s RM2.28 billion corruption trial to which the witness disagreed.
Shafee claimed that Shahrol had struck a deal similar to that done by former BSI head of wealth management services Kevin Swampillai to which Shahrol disagreed.
Shafee: I put it to you that it is because of this deal that had been struck, that you would not be charged and that you would incriminate my client (Najib).
Shahrol: Disagree.
Proceedings before Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah will resume on July 15 after the court granted a postponement to allow the former prime minister to help in the BN campaign for the upcoming Chini by-election which was set for this Saturday.
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