PUTRAJAYA: The High Court was told that the top management of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) had acted improperly by following the instructions of fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho or Jho Low, rather than the company’s board of directors (BOD).
Datuk Seri Najib Razak‘s defence team “attacked” the credibility of a key prosecution witness, former 1MDB CEO Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi.
Najib’s lawyer Wan Azwan Aiman Wan Fakhruddin said despite Shahrol Azral’s serious misconduct and questionable reliability in leading the company, the prosecution expected the court to accept his evidence as he was one of the key prosecution witnesses.
Shahrol Azral had claimed that the dealings in the company had “Najib’s blessings” through Jho Low, which the defence rebutted as entirely based on hearsay.
Some of Shahrol Azral’s misconducts, as contended by the defence, included hiding essential details from the knowledge of the 1MDB BOD and the Finance Minister, engaging in secret correspondence with Jho Low, and signing minutes of meetings with Najib that he (Shahrol Azral) knew did not take place.
The defence further contended that Shahrol Azral took instructions directly from Jho Low through secret correspondence which he later destroyed and left key negotiations with Goldman Sachs and International Petroleum Investment Co entirely to the fugitive businessman.
“Shahrol Azral had also signed the agreement to raise US$1.75bil in indebtedness without reading the full document, relying only on the signing page,” he said in his submissions during Najib’s defence trial involving RM2.28bil in 1MDB funds here on Friday (Oct 24).
Wan Azwan pointed at 1MDB former general counsel Jasmine Loo who he said was not the damsel in distress that she portrayed herself to be.
“She failed to conduct a simple corporate search on Petrosaudi International Ltd, showing that it was not an oversight on her part but an overt act.
“She was also a former fugitive who once fled to Myanmar and was supported by none other than Jho Low himself,” he said.
Najib is facing 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 abuse of power offences were allegedly committed at an AmIslamic Bank Bhd branch, Jalan Raja Chulan, Bukit Ceylon between Feb 24, 2011 and Dec 19, 2014.
Meanwhile, the money laundering offences were allegedly committed at the same location between March 22 and Aug 30, 2013.
Najib is currently serving his prison sentence since Aug 23, 2022, after being convicted in a separate criminal trial over the misappropriation of RM42mil from SRC International Sdn Bhd.
The submissions resumes on Monday before Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah.
