KUALA LUMPUR: Former 1MDB chief executive officer Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi told the High Court today he had never seen any document that Low Taek Jho signed throughout the years he had worked with the fugitive businessman.
“I had never seen any document that Low signed because he had no official duties in 1MDB,” he said when asked by Najib’s lawyer, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.
Shafee had asked Shahrol whether he had seen the signature of Low, also known as Jho Low, on documents related to Good Star Limited, the financier’s company registered in Seychelles.
Shafee: Does it not alarm you that you had known him for some years and you cannot identify his signature?
Shahrol: No.
Shahrol had previously been asked during the course of the trial to identify the signatures of various individuals in the sovereign fund such as the directors and management team members, as well as Najib’s signature, which he was able to do.
Shahrol also said police had, in 2016, informed him that two foreign companies linked to Low – Aktis Capital Singapore Ptd Ltd and Country Group – were among those that bought Terengganu Investment Authority’s (TIA) RM5 billion bonds in 2009.
Shafee asked him whether he was shocked that Low bought the bonds from TIA, to which Shahrol said “yes”.
Shafee then pointed out to Shahrol that Low’s father, Low Hock Peng, was Country Group’s owner and asked him whether he knew that father and son made a profit of RM496.6 million from reselling TIA’s bonds to government agencies.
Shafee: Jho Low, as the adviser, was making secret profits. And TIA did not know about it back then?
Shahrol: Yes.
Najib is standing trial on 25 counts of money laundering and abuse of power charges over alleged 1MDB funds amounting to RM2.28 billion deposited in his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.
The hearing before High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues tomorrow. - FMT
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