Jho Low in car convoy to Najib’s house: Ex-AmBank MD

1MDB TRIAL | Businessperson Low Taek Jho (or Jho Low) was in a car convoy that headed to then prime minister Najib Abdul Razak’s house in 2011, the Kuala Lumpur High Court heard.

Former AmBank managing director Cheah Tek Kuang testified this today regarding the convoy that he himself was in when he wanted to get the then finance minister’s signature to open a bank account.

The current account in question, which ends in 694, is one of the main aspects of the prosecution’s case in the RM2.28 billion 1MDB corruption case against Najib.

As Najib looked on from the dock, 39th prosecution witness Cheah said that a car had come to his (Cheah) house in January that year to fetch him and bring him to Najib’s house at Langgak Duta, Kuala Lumpur.

“When the car fetched me, there was a convoy of two or three cars. I was in a car with a driver, the other cars got other people.

“When I arrived there (Najib’s house), I saw Low in the other car,” Cheah said during cross-examination by Najib’s lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.

When the lawyer asked whether Low was at the premises of Najib’s house, the witness said that he saw the businessperson there.

Cheah said neither he nor Low talked to each other, and that he had then gone to a different part of the house, where he met Najib.

Yesterday, Cheah testified that Najib had told him while at the house that the then premier wanted to open the current account in order to receive US$100 million in donations from Saudi Arabia.

The accused’s defence team had previously shown to the court purported letters from an Arab prince claiming to have promised a total of US$1.17 billion (RM5.44 billion) in donations to Najib.

While replying to further questions during cross-examination, Cheah said he knew very little about Low prior to 2011, and that the businessperson was never a customer of the commercial bank.

“I did not know what was his (Low) role back then,” the witness said, adding that at some point, a lunch meeting was arranged between him and Low.

However, he was not certain whether Joanna Yu, who was the bank’s relationship manager handling Najib’s account, was the one who arranged the lunch meeting.

Proceedings before trial judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah would resume this afternoon as well as tomorrow.

Back during the separate RM42 million SRC International corruption case against Najib in 2019, Cheah testified that he met Low at Najib's house, and that he had a negative impression of Low due to the latter being constantly late and never punctual in meetings.

Charges involve RM2.28b from 1MDB

Najib is on trial for four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering involving RM2.28 billion from 1MDB.

In relation to the four abuse of power charges, the Pekan MP was alleged to have committed the offence at AmIslamic Bank Berhad’s Jalan Raja Chulan branch in Bukit Ceylon, Kuala Lumpur, between Feb 24, 2011, and Dec 19, 2014.

On the 21 money laundering counts, Najib is purported to have committed the offences at the same bank between March 22, 2013, and Aug 30, 2013.

In the prosecution’s opening statement at the beginning of the trial on Aug 28, 2019, lead deputy public prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram contended that the crime was allegedly committed through four phases spanning from 2011 to 2014.

Prosecutors contended that the first nine money laundering charges relate to alleged receiving of RM2,081,476,926 which forms the subject matter of the amended third charge and that the monies purportedly fell into the accused's account ending 694 with AmIslamic Bank.

The prosecution claimed that between Aug 2, 2013, and Aug 23, 2013, the accused transferred a sum of RM2,034,350,000 to Tanore Singapore.

Prosecutors alleged that simultaneously, the accused had used the balance of RM22,649,000 to pay four entities and one individual.

The prosecution contends that all these payments purportedly benefitted the accused.

They also contended that Najib received US$20 million (RM60,629,839.43) of 1MDB’s funds from Prince Faisal via two tranches of US$10 million each - the first tranche was on Feb 24, 2011, and the second tranche on June 14, 2011.

The prosecution contended that the wrongdoing at 1MDB was carried out by Low and several others with Najib’s blessing.

The accused’s defence team, however, claimed that the former prime minister had no knowledge of the crime perpetrated at 1MDB and the embezzlement was solely masterminded by Low and other members of the fund’s management.

1MDB is fully owned by the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MOF Inc).

Najib also used to be the chairperson of 1MDB’s board of advisers.

The BN advisory chairperson is serving a 12-year jail sentence after the Federal Court on Aug 23 dismissed his appeal against the SRC International conviction over seven criminal charges, as well as the custodial term and RM210 million fine in lieu of an additional five years in jail.

Initially a subsidiary of 1MDB, SRC later became fully owned by MOF Inc. Najib also used to be adviser emeritus to SRC.

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