PUTRAJAYA: Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak admitted at the High Court today that he was aware of Jho Low’s highly publicised, ostentatious lifestyle but never verified the fugitive businessman’s claim that the purchases he made on multi-million properties and expensive artworks were on behalf of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the brother of the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
Testifying as the first defence witness in his trial for allegedly misappropriating RM2.3 billion from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), the former prime minister acknowledged being aware of Jho Low’s reputation at the time, as stories about his extravagant spending on properties and paintings were circulating.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Mohamad Mustaffa P. Kunyalam referred Najib to an article published by an online portal, which reported that Jho Low, or his real name Low Taek Jho, had coveted real estate, including condominiums, penthouses and mansions in the United States, Singapore and France, as well as artworks by Andy Warhol and Claude Monet.
During cross-examination by Mohamad Mustaffa, the 71-year-old former prime minister said he was not comfortable with Jho Low’s lifestyle and confronted him about it.
“I confronted him (Jho Low) about this, and he kept repeating that he was doing it for Sheikh Mansour. I was not comfortable with his ostentatious lifestyle.
“This was his explanation to me and he repeated to me several times that the purchases were meant for Sheikh Mansour,” said Najib.
The DPP then suggested that Najib, who was the prime minister at the time and at the apex of authority, could have investigated the truth of what Jho Low had claimed in relation to Sheikh Mansour.
Najib responded that investigating the claim would have meant engaging with other foreign governments, as Sheikh Mansour was the brother of the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince.
Mohamad Mustaffa: You could have investigated, but you chose not to. You were shutting your eyes and did not want to know the obvious.
Najib: I disagree. I was uncomfortable with the news report, that’s why I confronted him.
Mohamad Mustaffa: I put it to you, you didn’t want to investigate him because he was working on your bidding.
Najib: No, no, no, I only utilised Jho Low for his international connection to the Saudis. I didn’t want people to think that I was beholden to him, I wanted people to know I was using him, I only wanted to tap into his connections.
Questioned further by the DPP, Najib said he first met Jho Low in 2007 when he was the Deputy Prime Minister, as his stepson, Riza Aziz, was a good friend of Jho Low’s brother when they were students at the London School of Economics.
Najib agreed to the suggestion that Jho Low was frequently seen at his residence, explaining that this was due to Jho Low’s close relationship with Riza.
Earlier, a voice recording of Najib and a man purportedly the Managing Director and CEO of Mubadala, Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, was played in court.
Based on the recording, Mohamad Mustaffa questioned the witness whether it was true that he (Najib) instructed his former special officer, Datuk Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin, to meet Khaldoon in Abu Dhabi to resolve issues concerning Riza and to delay the arbitration process between 1MDB and International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC).
To this, Najib denied the contention and answered that these were separate issues and should not be combined.
Similarly, Najib also denied receiving any text message from former 1MDB chairman Tan Sri Mohd Bakke Salleh about the brewing issues within the sovereign wealth fund, specifically expressing concern over 1MDB’s joint venture with PetroSaudi.
In the same trial, Mohd Bakke previously testified that he resigned as chairman of 1MDB as a sign of protest, following his suspicion that ‘something wrong’ was going on in the company.
On Oct 30 last year, Judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah ordered Najib to enter his defence, after ruling that the prosecution had successfully established a prima facie case against him.
Najib faces 25 charges, including four counts of using his position to receive RM2.3 billion in 1MDB funds as bribes and 21 charges of money laundering involving the same amount.
The trial continues tomorrow.
