KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Razak told the High Court that his purported close connection with Low Taek Jho was over-sensationalised when other individuals in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) financial scandal were closer to the fugitive businessman.
The former prime minister said he was falsely implicated in the case merely because of Low’s (also known as Jho Low) presence at his residence.
“While I do not deny that on certain occasions Jho Low was present at my residence in Langgak Duta, it is important to understand the context of my interactions with him during that time.
“My interactions with him were always guided by what I believed to be in the best interests of Malaysia,” Najib said.
According to him, Low had presented himself as highly capable and well-connected, including having ties with the royal families of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
He pointed out that other key individuals, former 1MDB CEO Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi, former 1MDB general counsel Jasmine Loo and former AmBank relationship manager Joanna Yu, had visited Low at his home.
“Shahrol’s admission in court was that he made nasi goreng for Jho Low and let us not forget Yu made Jho Low soup when he was unwell.
“For the record I never prepared any meals for Jho Low,” Najib said in his response to Loo’s testimony.
Loo, who was the 50th prosecution witness, had testified in her witness statement that she would hand over a Special Rights Redeemable Preference Shareholder Resolution (SRR) and Minutes of Representative (MR) documents to Low for him to obtain Najib’s signature.
In her testimony, Loo said she had on one occasion waited at the gate of Najib’s residence at Langgak Duta here, where Low collected the documents from her.
On another occasion, she said Low exited Najib’s house and took the documents from her directly.
Najib said Loo had only sought to create the impression that Low was at his Langgak Duta residence as though he and Low were conspiring together.
This, he said, could be viewed from another perspective where Loo was not only a close associate of Low but also his lawyer and later became his lucrative business partner.
“It is therefore highly likely that Loo brought the resolutions to my residence at Langgak Duta and waited for their execution because she was scheming with Jho Low and members of the management, such as Datuk Shahrol, to ensure that I signed the resolutions to enable them to execute their conniving plans, which often involved misappropriating millions from 1MDB, of which I knew nothing about,” Najib said.
On Oct 30, Najib was ordered by the High Court to enter his defence on four counts of using his position to obtain RM2.28bil gratification from 1MDB’s funds and 21 counts of money laundering involving the same amount.
The hearing before Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues today.
