Prosecutor: Jho Low everywhere, even at Najib's family holiday

1MDB TRIAL | Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) was everywhere, even at Najib Abdul Razak's family holiday on a yacht, the Kuala Lumpur High Court heard this morning.

Deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib said this was why 1MDB's board and management listened to directions from the fugitive businessperson.

The prosecutor pointed out that a photograph showed Low with Najib and his family during a holiday in the waters of France and Greece between 2009 and 2010.

Akram noted that former 1MDB chairperson Mohd Bakke Salleh testified seeing Low “come in and out” of Najib's office when the accused was still the defence minister.

The DPP pointed out Bakke’s testimony that Najib spoke to him via a handphone handed to the witness by Low during a 1MDB board meeting on Sept 26, 2009.

Akram also pointed out that Najib's former special officer Amhari Efendi Nazarudin testified that Low was often seen at Najib's house in Langgak Duta, Kuala Lumpur.

“Low Taek Jho, this guy is not a fictitious character. He has been identified by witnesses through photographs (tendered in court). He is a real person.

“This guy is everywhere in this case, from beginning to end. He was involved in a lot of things and transactions.

“Low was there at some holiday of Najib and his family, he was in a picture with Najib as well as (Petrosaudi International top executive) Tarek Obaid and (Saudi Arabian) Prince Turki and (Najib's wife) Rosmah (Mansor),” Akram submitted during the RM2.27 billion 1MDB power abuse and money laundering trial against Najib.

The DPP was responding to the defence team's contention that the prosecution witnesses could not be believed because they were allegedly corrupt, among other reasons.

Akram said these witnesses, such as former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi and Amhari, could not be blamed for listening to Low in relation to matters at 1MDB.

“These witnesses testified that they did what they did as they believed they were acting on the behest of the accused.

“Even though they received commands from other people like (Najib's late former chief private secretary) Azlin (Alias) and Low, they believed whatever the instructions came to them from the prime minister himself,” Akram said.

The DPP pointed out that Edge Media Group chairperson Tong Kooi Ong testified that he was shown the door by Najib when the witness went to the former premier's house in 2015 to warn about Low's involvement in embezzling funds from 1MDB.

Akram contended that Najib knew about embezzlement at 1MDB as there was a “modus operandi” where auditors who refused to sign off on the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund's accounts were replaced with another auditor.

The DPP pointed out that Ernst & Young (EY) was replaced by KPMG, which was later replaced by Deloitte.

Akram referred to KPMG managing partner Johan Idris - who met Najib at the then premier's house in late 2013 - testifying that the auditing firm was unable to sign off on 1MDB's accounts.

“This resulted in KPMG's (service) being terminated on Dec 31 (2013), to be replaced by Deloitte,” the prosecutor said.

Hearing before trial judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues.

Najib’s 25 charges

Former finance minister Najib is on trial over four counts of abuse of power and 21 money laundering charges involving RM2.27 billion of funds from 1MDB.

For the four abuse of power charges, the former Pekan MP allegedly committed the offences at AmIslamic Bank Bhd’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 71-year-old was accused of committing the offences at the same bank between March 22 and Aug 30, 2013.

The accused was first charged on Sept 20, 2018, and his criminal trial began on Aug 28, 2019.

The prosecution closed its case on May 30 this year, six years after the former prime minister was first charged.

The proceedings are now in the oral submissions stage, which involves no witness testimonies, only legal teams summing up whether the oral and documentary evidence implicates or exonerates Najib.

Fifty witnesses took the stand for the prosecution, among them Bakke, Shahrol, Amhari, 1MDB's former CEO Mohd Hazem Abd Rahman, and former Bank Negara governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz.

Prosecutors claimed that Najib received RM2.27 billion misappropriated from the troubled sovereign wealth fund between 2011 and 2014.

However, Najib’s defence team contended that the former premier had no knowledge of wrongdoing at 1MDB and that the wrongdoing was solely masterminded by Low and members of the fund’s management.

The former finance minister previously contended that the late King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia had promised financial donations to the accused.

The accused is relying on four letters allegedly from Arab royalty, which stated that the donations were given, with no strings attached, in recognition of his contribution to the Islamic world.

Najib's defence team from Shafee & Co also pointed out that while US$681 million flowed into his two AmBank accounts in 2013, around US$620 million was returned to the sender later that year.

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