Former 1MDB chair unhappy over US$700m diversion: Ex-cop

Summary

• A retired police investigating officer testifies that former 1MDB chairperson Bakke Salleh was unhappy with the diversion of US$700 million of the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund's monies in late 2009.

• During the RM2.27 million 1MDB abuse of power and money laundering trial against ex-premier Najib Abdul Razak, R Rajagopal was recalling what transpired when he recorded Bakke's statement as part of the investigation.

1MDB TRIAL | A former police investigating officer testified that ex-1MDB chairperson Bakke Salleh expressed being unhappy over the diversion of US$700 million of the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund's monies.

R Rajagopal, who was tasked with investigating alleged criminal breach of trust (CBT) at 1MDB, told the High Court in Putrajaya today over the time when he recorded Bakke’s statement.

During today's RM2.27 billion 1MDB abuse of power and money laundering trial against Najib, the accused's defence witness was replying to lead defence counsel Shafee Abdullah's questions as part of examination-in-chief.

Rajagopal told trial judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah that Bakke said that he and the board were unhappy over the nature of the US$1 billion joint venture agreement signed between 1MDB and Petrosaudi International Limited (PSI) in Sept 2009, as well as the later diversion of US$700 million meant for the joint venture.

The former police officer said the board was unhappy about how while the agreement was supposed to be between 1MDB and PSI, the inked written agreement was between the fund and a Cayman Island-based entity allegedly linked to PSI.

"When we (police) recorded their (Bakke among other board members) statement as far as their understanding was, it was between 1MDB and PSI, hence when I recorded Bakke's statement, he was unhappy over the agreement and where the US$700 million went," Rajagopal said.

The former police officer added that the US$700 million ended up in the offshore entity Good Star Limited, which has been linked to key 1MDB figure and fugitive Low Taek Jho (Jho Low).

Unhappy board

In the course of the 1MDB trial, prosecution witnesses Bakke and 1MDB's former CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi testified that the board was unhappy with where the US$700 million went off to.

Bakke also previously testified that he sent a short messaging service (SMS) message to Najib about issues at 1MDB, but the then premier allegedly did not respond, and that the former stepped down as the fund's chairperson in late October 2009.

However, in his defence testimony, Najib said Bakke should have tried to meet him to discuss issues related to 1MDB rather than sending an SMS.

Since the trial began in 2019, oral and documentary evidence have been tendered in court to show that Good Star at one point was passed off as a subsidiary of PSI.

Najib’s defence team contended that the ex-finance minister had no knowledge or involvement in wrongdoing at 1MDB and that embezzlement there was solely masterminded by Low and members of its management.

However, the prosecution team claimed that Low’s actions at 1MDB had Najib’s blessing, with the businessperson being an alleged mirror image of the then premier.

The trial resumes tomorrow morning.

Prima facie established

On Oct 30 last year, the High Court ordered Najib to enter his defence over four abuses of power and 21 money laundering charges involving RM2.27 billion from 1MDB.

Sequerah ruled that the prosecution had succeeded in establishing a prima facie (answerable) case against Najib due to the strength of some 50 witness testimonies.

Besides Bakke and Shahrol, these prosecution witnesses included former members of 1MDB management, including former chief financial officer Azmi Tahir, and former general counsel Jasmine Loo.

Between early December last year and late January this year, Najib spent 26 days on the witness stand trying to raise reasonable doubt in the prosecution’s case.

The former Pekan MP also relied on the defence that he was promised a donation by the late Saudi monarch King Abdullah during a meeting in Riyadh in 2010.

Deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib prosecuted.

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