Najib's blessing needed before any moves in 1MDB operations - Loo

 

1MDB TRIAL | A former 1MDB general counsel told the Kuala Lumpur High Court today that Najib Abdul Razak’s blessing was needed before any moves were made in 1MDB operations.

This is because he held three important positions in the company, Jasmine Loo said.

Loo (above), 50, said it was a practice, even before she joined the company, where everything needed to be referred to Najib - who held the position of the prime minister, finance minister as well as 1MDB’s chair of the board of advisers - before any project could be taken on by the sovereign wealth fund.

“It was a practice in 1MDB for everything to be referred to Najib first. In substance, it was one individual making all these decisions,” said Loo.

However, Najib’s counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said there was a distinction between his client’s three roles and Loo, as a general counsel, should have known that Najib as the chairperson couldn’t decide without referring it first to the 1MDB board of directors.

“Instead, you purposely ignored this because you were part of a conspiracy to hoodwink 1MDB,” said Shafee.

Loo disagreed with Shafee’s suggestion and reiterated that Najib, as the prime minister, the finance minister, as well as the board chair, was the same individual, and his one approval would be the approval of all three roles.

“By the time I joined 1MDB, that was already the practice and we had been relying on professional company secretarial advisers. If they had other different opinions they would have done it that way,” she said.

Loo disagrees with Leissner’s testimony

Loo further disagreed with the testimony made by former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner during Roger Ng’s 1MDB trial in the New York court on how she was the key component who connected fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho to the company.

Lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah

Shafee: Are you aware that he said you were appointed basically to legalise documents of what is in fact, illegal?

Loo: I am not aware.

Shafee then proceeded to read an excerpt of Leissner’s testimony in the New York court, where the former banker stated Loo was unhappy at the amount of money she was about to receive from the 1MDB scheme as it was inadequate.

To this, Loo said: “I do not agree with any of the statements he made.”

Najib, 70, is facing four charges of using his position to obtain bribes totalling RM2.3 billion from 1MDB funds and 21 charges of money laundering involving the same amount.

The trial before judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues.

- Bernama