Letter prepared by Low’s alleged late associate Kee Kok Thiam to explain away the inflow of large amounts of funds into Najib’s account.
1MDB’s former general counsel Jasmine Loo told the Kuala Lumpur High Court that Low was the one who directed his alleged late associate, Kee Kok Thiam, to prepare a copy of the letter to explain away the inflow of large amounts of funds into Najib’s account.
During this afternoon’s trial of the RM2.27 billion 1MDB corruption case against Najib, Loo testified that she saw the whole thing transpire when she was asked by Low to attend a meeting with the businessperson as well as Kee and two others in a room at Business Centre in Mayfair Hotel, London, in 2015.
The 50th prosecution witness said that the other two attendees were Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd director Shamsul Anwar Sulaiman and Yayasan Rakyat 1Malaysia (YR1M) projects director Dennis See.
Shamsul and See were witnesses in the RM42 million SRC International corruption case, in which Najib was found guilty and is currently serving a jail sentence for since August 2022.
Loo claimed that, during the meeting, Shamsul had asked Low how to resolve the issue of inflow of money into Najib’s account, which was alleged to have been from Putrajaya Perdana and SRC.
Loo alleged that Shamsul further told Low that many quarters had asked him (Shamsul) about the money inflow being allegedly from 1MDB.
“After that, Low directed Kee to prepare a confirmatory letter from Prince Saud to state that the funds that entered Najib’s account were a donation from Saudi Arabia.
“After that, I left momentarily with Low to discuss a separate matter. However, when I reentered the same room at the Business Centre, I saw Kee preparing the draft Prince Saud letter,” Loo told trial judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah.
In both the SRC case and 1MDB court cases, Najib maintained that he was promised the Arab donation and believed that the funds coming into his account were from Saudi royalty.
Loo referred to a purported letter from HRH Prince Saud Abdulaziz Al-Saud dated June 1, 2014 to Najib, noting: “I confirm having seen the draft of this letter on a computer screen at the Business Centre at Hotel Mayfair, London in early 2015.”
“The letter prepared by Kee Kok Thiam at that time is related to the donation from Prince Saud Abdulaziz Al Saud to Datuk Seri Najib Razak. I’m not certain about the donation amount at that time.
“I saw at that time the draft did not have a signature yet and am not sure when that letter was sent to Datuk Seri Najib Razak. Therefore, I believe the date stated on this letter is backdated,” she said, but added that she had “never seen and have no knowledge” about the other purported Arab donation letters.
Najib’s 1MDB trial resumes this Friday.
Earlier reports:
Feb 14, 1MDB trial: Jasmine Loo waited outside Najib’s house while Jho Low went in to get signature
Feb 14, 1MDB trial: MACC chief Abu Kassim replaced to protect Najib from investigation