PETALING JAYA: A report today revealed how murdered US-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi had gotten involved with alleged conspirators of the 1MDB scandal, who had arranged for him to interview former prime minister Najib Razak in 2009.
According to financial weekly The Edge, the duo who had arranged the interview were fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho and Tarek Obaid, one of the shareholders of Petro Saudi International (PSI), to whom 1MDB allegedly lost US$1.8 billion.
The report stated that Khashoggi, a Washington Post journalist, had interviewed Najib in December 2009, before his January visit to Saudi Arabia to meet King Abdullah.
During the visit, Najib was conferred the King Abdulaziz Order of Merit, the country’s highest civilian award.
“The interview was arranged by Jho Low and Obaid three months after 1MDB poured US$1 billion into a joint venture with PSI.
“The interview was meant to promote Malaysia, Najib and his wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, to the people of Saudi Arabia,” the financial weekly reported today.
The report also revealed email correspondences that took place in the run-up to the interview.
One correspondence, dated Nov 25, 2009, showed that Low had asked Najib’s special officer, Wan Ahmad Shihab Ismail, to get in touch with Khashoggi to fix a date for him to come to Kuala Lumpur.
In a Dec 2, 2009 email, Obaid instructed for US$100,000 (RM418,000) to be transferred to Khashoggi.
In a subsequent email correspondence on Dec 8, 2009, Obaid sent to Low the list of questions that Khashoggi will be asking at the interview.
Among the questions listed were how central Islam had become to Malaysia’s development and standing in the world; the best way Najib would like Malaysia, under his stewardship, to be presented to the Arab world today; how a new Saudi-Malaysian strategic relationship will help and stabilise the Muslim world; as well as his personal message to Saudis ahead of his official visit.
Two days later, Nawaf Obaid, Tarek’s brother, sent an email to “Uncle Jamal” (Khashoggi), with a proposed “mini media plan” for the project, which included a major front page interview with Najib laying out all the messages and the ideas that the latter would like to convey to the Saudi leadership and people.
It included the questions and pointed out that it should also be in tune with local Saudi domestic sensitivities and requirements.
Nawaf also proposed a smaller interview with Rosmah, “to highlight all her Islamic charitable works for the poor in Malaysia and beyond”. He said this will be “very interesting to the Saudi ladies involved in charitable works all over the kingdom”.
“Furthermore, demonstrating that the wife of the Malaysian PM is so involved in Muslim causes, will only reinforce the bonds between our two respective countries,” said Nawaf, who also proposed a series of two or three editorials to be written by Khashoggi.
The Edge reported that the interview took place on Dec 12, 2009, with both Khashoggi and Najib posing for a photograph after the interview.
The financial weekly further reported that Obaid was very close to Prince Turki Abdullah, one of the sons of the late King Abdullah. The prince’s standing took a hit after the death of his father in 2015.
The report by The Edge also stated that Obaid and Turki were shareholders of PSI, where 1MDB had lost US$1.8 billion, much of which has been traced to their bank accounts, together with Low’s and another director, Patrick Mahony.
The financial weekly also reported that Turki had been removed as governor of Riyadh through a royal decree in January 2015.
On Oct 2, Khashoggi — who was a fierce critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — was murdered within the Saudi consulate in Turkey. - FMT
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