PUTRAJAYA: Former 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) chairman Tan Sri Mohd Bakke Salleh was unhappy with an incident where US$700mil was funnelled out of the company, a former investigating officer tells the High Court.
Senior Asst Comm R. Rajagopal, who had recorded Mohd Bakke’s statement, said the US$700mil was initially meant for a joint venture between 1MDB and PetroSaudi International Ltd (PSI).
The witness said Mohd Bakke and the company’s board of directors were unhappy that while the agreement was supposed to be between 1MDB and PSI, the written agreement was between 1MDB and a shell company based in Cayman Island, with the latter allegedly linked to PSI.
“When we recorded their (Mohd Bakke and other board members) statements as far as their understanding was, it was between 1MDB and PSI, hence when I recorded Bakke’s statement, he was unhappy with the agreement and where the US$700mil had gone to,” Rajagopal said.
He was testifying in the RM2.28bil 1MDB graft trial involving former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak here yesterday.
The court later heard that the US$700mil ended up in Good Star Ltd, a company said to be linked to fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, whom the defence has contended to be the mastermind behind the 1MDB scandal.
On Oct 30 last year, 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 continues before Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah today.
