PUTRAJAYA: The former chairman of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) testified in the High Court today that fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, was present in Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s suite at the Four Seasons Hotel in New York during the former prime minister’s official visit in November 2009.
Tan Sri Che Lodin Wok Kamaruddin, 75, who served as 1MDB chairman from 2009 to 2016, said that Jho Low was in Najib’s hotel suite while the latter was meeting with Goldman Sachs executives, including the investment bank’s CEO at the time, Lloyd Craig Blankfein, and Tim Leissner.
“Yes, Jho Low was in the suite, but he did not participate in the discussion and was in another room during the conversation between Datuk Seri Najib and Lloyd Blankfein. I was there, as 1MDB’s CEO Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi had asked me to go to New York and join the delegation of then-prime minister Datuk Seri Najib.
“I understood from Shahrol Azral that Datuk Seri Najib would be meeting with foreign investors,” he said when questioned by Najib’s counsel Wan Azwan Aiman Wan Fakhruddin as the 12th defence witness in the former premier’s trial for the alleged misappropriation of RM2.3 billion in 1MDB funds.
Wan Azwan Aiman: Is Datuk Seri Najib’s meeting with Goldman Sachs unusual or sinister, given that 1MDB was already an existing Goldman Sachs client?
Che Lodin: No, the meeting was neither unusual nor sinister. From my understanding, it was part of a broader effort to engage foreign investors and promote Malaysia as an investment destination.
On October 30 last year, Judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah ordered Najib to enter his defence after ruling that the prosecution had established a prima facie case against him.
Najib, 71, faces 25 charges, including four counts of abusing his position to accept RM2.3 billion in bribes from 1MDB funds and 21 charges of money laundering involving the same amount.
The hearing continues tomorrow.
