Loo gave 1MDB documents to Jho Low at door of Najib's house, court hears

 

1MDB TRIAL | Jasmine Loo has testified that she handed 1MDB documents to fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) outside the door of former premier Najib Abdul Razak's house between 2012 and 2013, the Kuala Lumpur High Court heard.

The former 1MDB general counsel, who used to be part of Low's inner circle, testified this during today's RM2.27 billion 1MDB trial against former finance minister Najib.

“In 2012 and 2013, the document that I prepared namely SRRP (special rights redeemable preference shareholder resolution) in writing and MR (minutes by representative of holding company relating to proceedings of subsidiary company) printed and enclosed in a plastic folder, and I gave them to Low by hand at any location he directed.

“(This) included at the door of Najib’s residence at Langgak Duta, Kuala Lumpur,” the 50th prosecution witness told trial judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah.

Loo, 50, explained that she handed the documents to Low, who would then return later with the documents bearing Najib’s signature, and handed the SRRP and MR back to her.

Loo said if she could not personally give the folder to Low, she would hand it to any other individual Low directed her to so that he could give the documents to Najib.

In the event that the documents were not handed to her personally, she said Low would message her via Blackberry Messenger (BBM) to ensure the documents were passed to the 1MDB office for further action.

‘Low, Najib always seen together at 1MDB events’

Meanwhile, Loo testified that she had always seen Low and Najib together or near each other at 1MDB-linked programmes and events.

The witness claimed that she once saw Low keeping an empty letterhead of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on yellow paper and inside an envelope.

Loo cited an alleged example where she saw Low prepare the PMO letterhead - in relation to the appointment of then 1MDB CEO Mohd Hazem Abdul Rahman - at the businessperson’s house at Kia Peng, Kuala Lumpur.

She claimed that Low would bring the documents to Najib for the then prime minister’s signature and that Hazem was appointed following the signature-bearing letter being sent to 1MDB’s office.

“Another example was when Najib was in New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly in 2013, Low was also in New York waiting for Najib at the Mandarin Oriental, New York.

“Low had arranged a meeting between Najib and American investors with the cooperation of Goldman Sachs.

“I was directed to attend a meeting at Times Warner Centre adjacent to the Mandarin Oriental New York to monitor and report to Low on what was discussed,” Loo claimed.

Yesterday, she testified that Low’s actions in 1MDB made it look like he was a proxy of Najib.

1MDB is fully owned by the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MOF Inc), with Najib being the chairperson of the fund’s board of advisers.

Open-court proceedings resume this afternoon.

Najib is on trial over four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering involving RM2.27 billion from 1MDB.

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, Najib is purported to have committed the offences at the same bank between March 22, 2013, and Aug 30, 2013.