A witness told the Kuala Lumpur High Court today that 1MDB-linked Low Taek Jho's name was not found in cabinet meeting minutes during former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak's administration.
Former cabinet deputy chief secretary Mazidah Abdul Majid said this in her testimony today at the RM2.28 billion 1MDB corruption trial of former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.
Mazidah was replying to a question from deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib on whether the businessperson's name ever cropped up in the cabinet minutes.
Earlier during examination-in-chief today, the 11th prosecution witness testified she could not remember whether Low's name ever cropped up during the cabinet meetings she attended.
Akram then tendered voluminous amount of cabinet minutes for her to peruse through to check whether Low's name was ever mentioned.
Akram: Based on all these documents before you, was Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, ever mentioned in these documents?
Mazidah: No.
Yesterday, the witness testified that the cabinet in 2010 agreed with then premier Najib's suggestion not to publicly announce an alleged donation from Saudi royalty to the 1MDB Foundation.
During the examination-in-chief yesterday, Mazidah testified that Najib told the cabinet he held formal and informal engagements with various parties from the Middle East and received positive response on matters involving Malaysia's interests.
She testified that Najib told the cabinet Saudi Crown Prince Sultan Abdul Aziz Al-Saud indicated he agreed to hand over a donation to the 1MDB Foundation.
In previous proceedings, the court heard testimonies about Low's alleged role in the case, such as former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi testifying that Low claiming he could get Najib to bulldoze a US$6 billion letter of comfort.
Shahrol's testimony was in relation to the letter of comfort for a US$6 billion government guarantee for a joint venture between 1MDB and Aabar Investment PJS Ltd (BVI), through which 1MDB would commit US$3 billion while Aabar would also commit US$3 billion.
Proceedings before judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah will resume this afternoon following the lunch break.
Najib is on trial for four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering involving RM2.28 billion of 1MDB's funds.
Besides being former prime minister, Najib was also the finance minister and chairperson of 1MDB's board of advisors.
Troubled sovereign wealth fund 1MDB is a fully-owned subsidiary of the Minister of Finance Incorporated. - Mkini
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