I realised there was ‘fake’ Aabar when quizzed by authorities: Witness

 

1MDB TRIAL | 1MDB’s former chief financial officer Azmi Tahir today testified that he only realised there was a ‘fake’ Aabar Investments PJS entity when questioned by the authorities in 2015.

During this afternoon’s RM2.28 billion 1MDB corruption trial against former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, 12th prosecution witness Azmi gave oral evidence that he was not aware that millions of US dollars went to the Seychelles-registered entity, which bore a similar name to the “actual” Aabar Investments PJS.

During examination-in-chief by deputy public prosecutor T Deepa Nair, Azmi testified that even when the National Audit Department (NAD) began auditing the 1MDB affair in 2015, he was told by his then deputy Terence Geh that both Aabars were legitimate subsidiaries of International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC).

It was reported that the financial scandal involved siphoning off billions of ringgit out of a joint venture (JV) between 1MDB and IPIC.

The JV took place during Najib’s tenure as premier, finance minister, and chairperson of the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund’s board of advisers.

The prosecution contended that, through a convoluted monetary trail encompassing four phases over a multi-year period, part of 1MDB’s funds ended up in Najib’s personal account.

However, the defence team contended that Najib had no knowledge of any wrongdoing at 1MDB, and claimed that any such wrongdoings were perpetrated solely by Low and several personnel from the sovereign wealth fund.

Azmi today testified that Geh showed him an alleged incumbency document to prove that Aabar Investments PJS Limited was owned by IPIC.

“As far as I know, the incumbency document was given by Geh to the National Audit Department.

“Therefore, I did not see what the problem was until I was called to give a statement to the authorities beginning 2015,” Azmi testified during proceedings before trial judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah.

Previously on Sept 2 last year, 1MDB’s former CEO and ninth prosecution witness Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi testified that the sovereign wealth fund’s board has never approved a transfer of US$699.3 million from its energy subsidiary to the “fake” Aabar.

Certain of Low’s involvement

Shahrol’s testimony was in relation to the transfer in 2014 that was made in two tranches, whereby the first tranche was for US$233,333,000 on Sept 3 and the second tranche of US$457,984,607 on Sept 30.

It was reported that the real subsidiary of Abu Dhabi-owned IPIC is Aabar Investments PJS, which was incorporated in the British Virgin Islands (BVI).

The US$699.3 million allegedly originated from a US$1.225 billion loan given by bank Deutsche Bank Singapore to 1MDB Energy Holdings between May and August 2014.

Previously during trial on Nov 11, Azmi testified that wanted businessperson Low Taek Jho (or Jho Low) created a “work-in-silo” culture at 1MDB, whereby the witness was not aware of alleged dubious transfers of millions of US dollars out of the sovereign wealth fund.

The witness then had testified that he followed Low’s directions as he perceived the businessperson as acting on the mandate of Najib.

During today’s proceedings, the witness told the court that all matters dealing with Aabar were handled by 1MDB’s then-general counsel Jasmine Loo.

Azmi claimed that this also formed part of the need to know the basis of the culture duties set out by Low.

The witness also alleged that he was certain of Low’s involvement as Najib’s then principal private secretary, Azlin Alias, had told him that Low was someone trusted by Najib.

During proceedings today, Azmi told the court he was 1MDB’s CFO for three years from June 1 2012 until December 2017, and that the contract was not renewed after that.

The Malaysian authorities are still attempting to track down Low and several of his alleged accomplices such as Geh and Loo.

The trial before Sequerah is set to continue tomorrow morning, with 1MDB’s former director Ismee Ismail set to take the witness stand for the prosecution.

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.

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