MACC investigator agrees Jho Low was puppetmaster in 1MDB

1MDB TRIAL | An MACC investigating officer agreed with Najib Abdul Razak’s legal team that fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) acted as puppetmaster over troubled Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB.

Nur Aida Arifin’s reply was during cross-examination by lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah during today’s RM2.27 billion 1MDB abuse of power and money laundering trial against the former prime minister.

Shafee: You said that Jho Low played an active main role in arranging the operations of 1MDB. Do you mean like in a chess game or puppet master?

Nur Aida: Correct.

Shafee: You are saying Jho Low was like a puppet master?

Nur Aida: He catur (orchestrated).

Shafee: Do you understand the game of chess?

Nur Aida: Yes.

Shafee: You are saying he (exerted) control (over 1MDB)?

Nur Aida: Yes.

The prosecutors contended that Low is a mirror image of Najib and that the wanted businessperson gave directions to members of 1MDB’s management.

However, the accused’s defence team contended that Najib had no knowledge of the embezzlement at the fund and that any wrongdoing there was solely masterminded by Low and other members of its management.

Najib Abdul Razak

Back in September 2019, during trial before judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah, Najib’s former special officer Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin testified that Low was like a puppet master.

Amhari gave oral evidence that Low was someone who could place his agents at various levels to ensure he could get his way in 1MDB.

The eight prosecution witness likened Low to someone who would be connected to everyone in a football match, including the managers of both teams and “even the people who made the stadium”, and further described the fugitive as a master manipulator.

A question of absolute power

Meanwhile, during proceedings before Sequerah, Nur Aida and Shafee disagreed on whether Article 117 of 1MDB’s memorandum and articles of association (M&A) granted absolute power to the prime minister.

The defence counsel argued that, unlike 1MDB’s M&A, Petronas’ M&A grants “absolute” power to a sitting prime minister to veto decisions of the national oil company.

While Nur Aida agreed that Petronas’ M&A does grant this “absolute power” to a sitting premier, she insisted that 1MDB’s own M&A granted the same power to then-prime minister Najib.

Article 117 of 1MDB’s M&A required written approval from the prime minister before the sovereign wealth fund could make decisions on various matters.

Article 109 of Petronas’ M&A states that the “chairperson of the board shall be appointed by the prime minister and shall at all times hold proxy with respect to all shares held by the government and such proxy shall be exercised (at the direction) of the prime minister”.

Trial before Sequerah resumes tomorrow.

Najib’s 1MDB charges

Najib is on trial for four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering involving RM2.27 billion from 1MDB.

For the four abuse of power charges, the former Pekan MP allegedly committed the offences at AmIslamic Bank Bhd’s Jalan Raja Chulan branch in Bukit Ceylon, Kuala Lumpur, between Feb 24, 2011, and Dec 19, 2014.

On the 21 money laundering counts, Najib purportedly committed the offences at the same bank between March 22, 2013, and Aug 30, 2013.

1MDB is fully owned by the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MOF Inc).

Najib was chairperson of 1MDB’s board of advisers.

The accused was first charged on Sept 20, 2018, and his criminal trial began on Aug 28, 2019. - Mkini