KUALA LUMPUR – The high court here today was told that fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, had passed his phone to former 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) chairman Tan Sri Mohd Bakke Salleh with Datuk Seri Najib Razak on the line during a 1MDB board meeting.
Former director of investments at the Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA) Kelvin Tan Kay Jin, 50, said Jho Low did so during a meeting on September 26, 2009, which was attended by former 1MDB directors Tan Sri Che Lodin Wok Kamaruddin, Tan Sri Azlan Mohd Zainol, Tan Sri Ismee Ismail and former 1MDB executive director of business development Casey Tang Keng Chee. TIA was renamed as 1MDB in 2009.
Earlier, the eighth prosecution witness who attended the meeting said that when Jho Low’s attendance was questioned by Che Lodin during the meeting, Jho Low answered that he had a role in the “board of advisers”.
Tan said this during cross-examination by lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah in the trial of Najib and former 1MDB chief executive officer Arul Kanda Kandasamy on alleged tampering of a 1MDB final audit report.
Shafee: Why was Jho Low’s name not stated in the attendance list? What was his contribution to the meeting?
Tan: I can’t recall.
Shafee: For sure, he did not come there to show his pretty face. I have to trigger your memories. Jho Low must have said something in the meeting. Otherwise, what is the point of him attending the meeting?
Tan: Yes, at one point, Tan Sri Lodin asked Jho Low what he was doing there (meeting) and Jho Low passed his phone to Tan Sri Bakke and said the prime minister was on the line… and I recall Tan Sri Bakke being surprised that it was the prime minister. I could not recall what was the matter that triggered Jho Low to pass his phone to Tan Sri (Bakke) to talk to the PM.
Meanwhile, during re-examination by deputy public prosecutor Mohamad Mustaffa P. Kunyalam, the witness said the prime minister he was referring to was Najib.
The witness also said he was named as one of the defendants in a suit filed by 1MDB against its former employees and directors.
Najib, 68, is charged with using his position to order amendments to the 1MDB final audit report before it was presented to the Public Accounts Committee to avoid any action being taken against him, while Arul Kanda is charged with abetting Najib in making the amendments to the report to protect Najib from being subjected to action.
The trial before judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan continues on September 9. – Bernama, August 12, 2021
