Najib showed me the door when I warned him about Jho Low - Edge MD

1MDB Trial | Najib Abdul Razak told The Edge chairperson Tong Kooi Ong to leave the then-prime minister’s residence when the latter warned the former about fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) in 2015.

The 43rd prosecution witness said this during this afternoon’s RM2.28 billion 1MDB corruption trial against the former prime minister.

Tong was testifying about his attempt to warn Najib about the embezzlement at the Malaysian wealth sovereign fund and that The Edge’s investigative reporting discovered the involvement of Low in the whole affair.

“After I told Najib that Low should be held to account and prosecuted, he (Najib) stood up and held the door open for me to leave,” Tong said, adding that he proceeded to leave Najib’s house at Langgak Duta.

Back in Nov 2018, a few months after Pakatan Harapan took power, Tong wrote an editorial in The Edge where he recounted the 2015 encounter between him and Najib.

During examination-in-chief by lead deputy public prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram before the Kuala Lumpur High Court today, Tong said that he wanted to meet Najib back in 2015 due to concerns over what the Edge found through investigative reporting into 1MDB since 2010.

Tong said he then met Baling MP Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim, who then arranged a meeting between The Edge chaiperson and Najib.

Tong said that on March 6, 2015 around 10.45pm, he went to Najib’s residence where both men sat facing each other in the living room, when the then premier began expressing his views that The Edge’s investigative reporting was “wrong”.

“He (Najib) shared that the problem with 1MDB was business (related) - which he meant that 1MDB was borrowing excessively and had problems with debt repayment,” the witness said.

Tong said he then proceeded to sit beside Najib and showed the latter notes and copies of thousands of emails involving 1MDB-linked Petrosaudi International Limited (PSI) and its former director, Xavier Andre Justo.

The witness testified he told Najib that PSI was not a Saudi Arabian government-owned entity but was privately-owned, and that the valuation of part of the assets at the centre of the 1MDB-PSI joint venture was “fake”.

Tong said he told Najib that 1MDB had then transferred US$1 billion into the joint venture but that US$700 million of this transfer was diverted to Good Star, a company owned by Low.

Tong added that he urged Najib - whom the media magnate knew since the 1990s - to get the authorities to investigate and prosecute Low over the matter.

The witness explained however at this juncture, Najib stood up and went to the door and opened it for Tong to leave, which he did.

However, Tong emphasised that The Edge continued its investigative reporting into the 1MDB affair after the meeting with Najib.

Tong testified that later during an event The Edge hosted and was attended by Najib, the witness said he was introduced to the then premier’s media adviser, Paul Stadlen.

The witness claimed that Stadlen tried to convince the former to ensure The Edge not to write any further investigative reports into 1MDB as it “made many people upset with the Prime Minister’s Office”, and that the PMO (Prime Minister’s Office) “was all- powerful and that we should be careful”.

Tong recalled that following this, The Edge and the now defunct online news portal The Malaysian Insider, was investigated by the police.

“I was banned from leaving the country. I was also investigated by LHDN (Inland Revenue Board) for money laundering and tax evasion.

“The Edge was suspended for three months (July to Sept 2015), but we got it lifted by going to the court (judicial review),” Tong said.

Sri Ram: Do you have any personal grudge against Najib?

Tong: Not then, not now. I never had a grudge against Najib.

Trial before judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah would resume tomorrow morning. Najib was represented by counsel Rahmat Hazlan and Tania Scivetti.

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

In regards to the four abuse of power charges, the incumbent Pekan MP was alleged to have committed the offences 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, the former finance minister was purported to have committed the offences at the same bank between March 22, 2013, and Aug 30, 2013.

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

However, the accused’s defence team claimed that Najib 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.

The BN advisory chairperson is serving a 12-year jail sentence after the Federal Court on Aug 23 dismissed his appeal against the RM42 million SRC International corruption case conviction.

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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