Jho Low name-dropped 'M'sian PM' during meeting, says ex-banker

1MDB TRIAL | Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak’s former banker testified that 1MDB-linked businessperson Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) had name-dropped a “prime minister” of Malaysia during meetings.

However, former AmBank relationship manager Joanna Yu did not specify to the High Court in Kuala Lumpur today who this “prime minister” was.

The 41st prosecution witness said this when giving oral evidence during the RM2.28 billion 1MDB corruption trial against Najib, who is also a former finance minister, this afternoon.

During the cross-examination of Yu, lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah asked whether Low was the sort of person who sells himself “dishonestly”, to which she agreed in hindsight.

Shafee: He (Low) told you (Yu) that he was very close to many leaders of Middle Eastern countries?

Yu: He did not tell me that, but he would say he met who and who.

Shafee: Like who?

Yu: I cannot remember. He dropped names that he was going to meet somebody from Kuwait here or there. I let it pass, as it did not matter to me.

Shafee: He said he would meet someone from Kuwait?

Yu: Yes, or he would have a conversation at a meeting and he would say he met this and that person. He also did say he met the Bank Negara governor or prime minister.

Shafee: Was it the Malaysian prime minister?

Yu: Yes.

When Shafee queried further, Yu said Low also name-dropped the names of a Saudi crown prince, Queen Rania of Jordan, Saudi’s Prince Turki and 1MDB-linked Saudi national Tarek Obaid, among others.

The former banker testified that Low usually did not name-drop directly to her during the meetings, but he mentioned names while talking to other people in the meeting, such as 1MDB’s former CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi.

During today’s proceedings before trial judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah, the atmosphere in court heated up several times during the exchange between Shafee and Yu.

At one point, Shafee was heard telling Yu: “When I asked for chicken, you give me a duck” in order to express his dissatisfaction with her answers, which he claimed did not address the main point sought by his questions.

Proceedings before Sequerah would resume tomorrow morning.

In previous 1MDB trial proceedings, Yu testified she was introduced to Low two years before the formation of 1MDB’s predecessor Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA) in 2009.

She previously told the court that she was close to Low in a professional capacity, sparked by the bank’s loan deal with a company called Majestic Masterpiece Sdn Bhd.

Yu was one of the key prosecution witnesses during Najib’s previous RM42 million SRC International corruption trial.

During the SRC trial, Najib’s lawyers cross-examined her for several weeks and at one point, Yu reportedly cried while on the witness stand.

Najib is currently serving a 12-year jail sentence over the SRC case, with the accused being brought to court by Kajang Prison authorities to attend his various ongoing criminal trials, which include the 1MDB case.

In relation to the ongoing 1MDB trial against Najib, Yu testified that she never met the accused directly over his bank account and that Low wanted several so-called Arab letters to be kept secret.

The alleged Arab letters refer to several documents Najib purportedly relied on to prove that Middle Eastern royals promised him a donation.

25 charges

In relation to the 1MDB trial before Sequerah, Najib is facing four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering involving RM2.28 billion from 1MDB.

For the four abuse of power charges, the former Pekan MP is 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, Najib is 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 Najib had no knowledge of the crime perpetrated at 1MDB and that Low, as well as other members of the fund’s management, had masterminded the embezzlement.

Initially a subsidiary of 1MDB, SRC later became fully owned by the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MOF Inc). MOF Inc is also the full owner of 1MDB.

Najib also used to be adviser emeritus to SRC as well as chairperson of 1MDB’s board of advisers.

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