Witness: Jho Low attended special 1MDB meeting in Sept 2009
1MDB AUDIT TRIAL | Fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho attended a special 1MDB board meeting at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur on Sept 26, 2009, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur heard today.
1MDB’s former company secretary Lim Poh Seng testified that Low, who is also known as Jho Low, attended the meeting at Royale Bintang Damansara.
The ninth prosecution witness was confirming...
1MDB AUDIT TRIAL | Fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho attended a special 1MDB board meeting at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur on Sept 26, 2009, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur heard today.
1MDB’s former secretary Lim Poh Seng testified that Low, who is also known as Jho Low, attended the meeting at Royale Bintang Damansara.
The ninth prosecution witness was confirming a copy of the meeting’s minutes during today’s 1MDB audit report amendment trial against former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak and the fund’s former CEO Arul Kanda Kandasay.
“According to the minutes, the meeting was chaired by Mohd Bakke Salleh, and present at the meeting were Che Lodin (Wok Kamaruddin), Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi, Azlan Zainol, Ismee Ismail, Low Taek Jho, and Casey Tang Keng Chee.
“I was not present at the meeting as the company secretary because I was on leave. The minutes were prepared by Kelvin Tan,” Lim said, adding that a copy of the minutes was provided to him for retention in the minutes' book.
Bakke, Che Lodin, Azlan and Ismee were former directors of 1MDB, while Shahrol used to be its CEO.
Tang is an alleged associate of Low, while Tan used to be 1MDB corporate strategy director.
When asked by deputy public prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram whether he was alarmed by the presence of Low’s name in the minutes of the Sept 26 meeting, Lim replied no.
Lim had testified earlier today that during his tenure as 1MDB company secretary from 2009 to 2011, he said Low may have attended the company’s board meetings, but the witness did not have a specific recollection.
The prosecution is contending that a decision to make the amendments were made during a meeting on Feb 24, 2016, at the office of the then chief secretary to the government Ali Hamsa.
It was alleged that this was done in order to remove or alter certain portions of the 1MDB audit report, including dropping the issue of Low’s attendance at the fund’s board meetings.
Besides Ali and Arul Kanda, others who were present at the meeting were former auditor-general Ambrin Buang, former National Audit Department auditor Saadatul Nafisah Bashir Ahmad, Najib's former principal private secretary Shukry Salleh, and then Attorney-General’s Chambers representative Dzulkifli Ahmad.
The trial before High Court judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan will resume tomorrow, where Shukry is expected to take the stand for the prosecution.
Najib is charged with using his position to order amendments to 1MDB's final audit report before it was presented to the Public Accounts Committee in order to prevent any action against him.
Co-accused Arul Kanda was charged with abetting Najib in making the amendments.
The charges are framed under Section 23 (1) of the MACC Act 2009, which specifies a jail term of up to 20 years and a fine of no less than five times the amount of gratification or RM10,000, whichever is higher.
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