NAJIB TRIAL | Former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi today testified that he was convinced the prime minister had authorised the company to transfer "units" from PetroSaudi International to Bridge Partners Investment Management Limited in the Cayman Islands in 2014.
Under cross-examination by defence lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, Shahrol revealed that he did not receive the go-ahead from then prime minister Najib Abdul Razak himself but through fugitive Jho Low.
"(I trusted Low) because of his actions [...], Najib was around him from the very beginning. He seems to have access (to Najib).
"One anecdote I can share with the court is that I am well known for making good nasi goreng (fried rice). I gave some to Jho Low, and he asked me if he could take some to Najib.
"And then later he told me that Najib said that it was good," he testified.
In previous testimonies, Shahrol had testified that Jho Low enjoyed easy access to Najib. Therefore, he had, on many occasions, taken Jho Low's word in regards to Najib's wishes.
Shafee, unconvinced that Najib actually had sampled Shahrol's cooking, then asked the latter if he had heard the compliments himself.
Shafee: Did Najib ever one day say: 'Shahrol your nasi goreng was damn good'?
Shahrol: No.
Shafee: I put it to you that you have full confidence in Jho Low, trusted him 100 percent. Nothing caused you to query (the prime minister).
Shahrol: Yes.
Shafee: My assistant just put a note, that given Jho Low's physique, you would have known he would have consumed all of the nasi goreng.
Shahrol: I will make one for you.
Shahrol (above) explained that Bridge Partners was a private fund, describing it as similar to Permodalan Nasional Bhd, ergo, entities could deposit funds with the company which will then invest them elsewhere.
1MDB had attempted to recoup its investment of US$1.83 billion from PetroSaudi International between 2009 and 2012. The funds eventually ended up being placed with Bridge Partners.
Shahrol testified that the deal was arranged by Jasmine Loo, 1MDB's general counsel and group strategy executive director between 2012 and 2013.
Loo's decision went unchallenged by Shahrol who said it was consistent with Najib's wishes to redeem the money.
Shafee: I put it to you that the directors' circular resolution was purposely drafted in a vague manner to conceal this investment in (Bridge Partners) [...] was a scam.
Shahrol: I cannot comment as Jasmine is not here.
Shafee: You brought this matter to the (1MDB) board?
Shahrol: This was discussed during a meeting, not sure when. The push was to get the cash back. Jho Low said they could not get it back whole but we could change it into units and we would get back the proceeds from whatever sold.
We needed to pay the master planner for TRX. I put pressure on (Jho Low) to pressure PetroSaudi into bringing the money back.
Shafee: It is in your interest to bring the money back. That is in the PM's interest too [...] but it never happened. At that time you knew the money went to Caymans.
Shahrol: Only when (the facts were) laid out in front of me. - Mkini
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