Jasmine Loo didn't handle 1MDB when in law firm with judge: DPP

 

Jasmine Loo did not handle any 1MDB-linked cases when she was partners with Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah in a law firm around 15 years ago, contended the prosecution.

Deputy public prosecutor Kamal Baharin Omar told the Kuala Lumpur High Court that Loo was only engaged by 1MDB in 2011, around three years after she left law firm Zain & Co, where trial judge Sequerah was then partner.

"Loo left (Zain & Co) in 2008 while Yang Arif (Your Honour Sequerah) left Zain & Co in 2014 due to being elevated to the bench), so there was a gap (in time)," the prosecutor said, adding that there is no evidence that Loo handled any 1MDB-linked matters during her time at the time.

Kamal, this afternoon, was submitting during the hearing of Najib Abdul Razak's application to recuse Sequerah from presiding over the 1MDB trial against the former prime minister.

The recusal followed on the heels of Sequerah's disclosure that he used to be law firm partners with 1MDB-linked Loo, who surrendered herself to Malaysian authorities last month after being on the run for several years.

During open-court proceedings before Sequerah today, Kamal contended that Najib's legal team failed to adduce evidence of the real danger of bias on the judge's part when hearing the 1MDB case against the former finance minister.

Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah

The prosecutor pointed out that the only fact adduced by Najib's legal team was that Loo became a law firm partner in 2004 when Sequerah was there, but that she left the firm in 2008, with Sequerah himself leaving later in 2014.

Kamal noted that the accused's legal team did not show any evidence on whether there was contact between Sequerah and Loo following her leaving the firm, much less any personal friendship between the judge and the former fugitive.

"We were not shown evidence of a special relationship between Sequerah and Loo after 2008," the DPP said, adding that Najib's recusal application lacked specific particulars to prove any real danger of bias.

After proceedings this afternoon, Sequerah fixed tomorrow to deliver his decision on the application for him to withdraw from the 1MDB trial.

In relation to the ongoing trial before Sequerah, Najib is facing four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering involving RM2.28 billion from 1MDB, a sovereign wealth fund wholly owned by the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MOF Inc).

For the four abuse of power charges, the former Pekan MP is alleged to have 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, the accused is purported to have committed the offences at the same bank between March 22, 2013, and Aug 30, 2013. - Mkini