Jho Low was often seen in Najib's office even before he was PM, 1MDB audit trial hears

KUALA LUMPUR: A former 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) chairman told the High Court that fugitive financier Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low (pic), was seen in the office of Datuk Seri Najib Razak even before the Pekan MP took office as prime minister.

Tan Sri Mohd Bakke Salleh, 68, testified that he had met Low several times at Najib's office in Putrajaya when he (Najib) was defence minister and deputy prime minister.

The witness was being cross-examined by Najib's lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah in the 1MDB audit tampering trial here on Friday (April 1).

The lawyer suggested that Mohd Bakke had "the impression" that Low was coordinating on behalf of Najib but the witness replied it was more than that.

"It wasn't just an impression. I met him at the former prime minister's office when he (Najib) was defence minister and deputy prime minister.

"I met Low there on a number of occasions," Mohd Bakke said.

He recalled telling Najib that Low had asked him (Mohd Bakke) to help set up Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA), the entity that would later become 1MDB.

Low's coordinating role was later reinforced in a meeting with the former Agong, Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin of Terengganu, who had wanted to set up TIA, he said.

"It wasn’t something that happened by chance or came out of an impression, you know. It was reinforced by two leaders," Mohd Bakke said, referring to the Sultan and Najib.

The court also heard from the witness that Najib had told him, in a telephone conversation, not to spend too much time looking into past transactions and to just focus on a proposed joint venture between 1MDB and PetroSaudi International (PSI).

Mohd Bakke told the court Najib said this after getting off the phone with Low during a 1MDB board meeting on Sept 26, 2009.

"I hate to repeat this but when the prime minister engages you in a telephone conversation after making a call to Low, on Low's phone, that drives home a very strong point," Mohd Bakke said.

Muhammad Shafee, however, said that just because Low appeared to be close to the prime minister did not mean the board should be taking directions from him.

"The board never took direction from Jho Low," Mohd Bakke replied.

As the line of questioning was heavily based on 1MDB and Low's role instead of the 1MDB audit report, Justice Mohamed Zaini Mazlan remarked that he felt he was sitting in "Justice Collin (Lawrence Sequerah)'s court", to the laughter of the defence and prosecution teams.

Justice Mohamed Zaini was referring to the judge who was presiding over Najib's other 1MDB trial relating to 25 charges involving RM2.28bil from the company's funds.

Najib, 69, was accused of abusing his position to order amendments to the 1MDB final audit report to avoid any action being taken against him while former 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy, 46, was accused of abetting Najib in making the amendments to the report.

Both men were charged under Section 23(1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009, which provides a jail term of up to 20 years and a fine of no less than five times the amount of gratification or RM10,000, whichever is higher, upon conviction.

The hearing continues on April 12.