KUALA LUMPUR: A key witness in former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak’s trial on the 1Malaysia Development Berhad’s (1MDB) case revealed to the High Court here today on the modus operandi of private meetings that were held with fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho (pix), or Jho Low, to discuss 1MDB issues.
It was held at night at a hotel here, said Datuk Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin, 43, who was Najib’s former special officer.
He said when he and now deceased Datuk Azlin Alias (who was Najib’s principal private secretary) arrived at the lobby of the Prince Hotel here, they would be escorted by the businessman’s personal bodyguards to a room.
Amhari Efendi said he and Azlin normally went to the hotel separately.
“Our car registration numbers will be used as a reference by the bodyguards and normally, there would be one or two Malay bodyguards who will accompany us. We will be quarantined while waiting for Jho Low, who would normally be in the suite, which has a bedroom, a dining table and a sofa.
“Normally, we had to wait for 30 minutes to an hour. Although we met often at the Prince Hotel, the meeting took place in a different room every time. Jho Low would be clad in a batik shirt and always in a hurry.
“He was always late, and at the meeting room, we would start the conversation with empty talks and Jho would distribute the documents to us, which would be in an orderly manner for discussion,” he said when reading out his witness statement during examination-in-chief by deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib.
Amhari Efendi said for the meetings, Jho Low would contact him through SMS to arrange the meeting with Azlin, following which he would contact Azlin to fix the time.
“We normally met at night at Prince Hotel Kuala Lumpur. Often, before the meeting, Jho Low would go to Datuk Seri Najib’s house in Jalan Langgak Duta to discuss and confirm the documents to be discussed with us. We know this because Jho Low personally informed us.
“Quite often, Jho Low would email the documents to be discussed to us before the meeting and he would also bring copies of the documents for discussion at our private meetings,” he said, adding that they were required to dispose-off the documents after the meetings to avoid them falling into wrong hands.
He said Najib himself had never instructed him and Azlin to have a meeting with Jho Low, but had used Jho Low to tell them to do so.
He said he knew the instruction by Jho Low to him and Azlin had been agreed to by Najib as they had been occasions when they approached Najib to verify on some documents, he (Najib) appeared to be in the know about the meeting.
“Most of the time, Datuk Seri Najib did not question the instructions (given by Jho Low) and would agree for further action to be taken.
“The emails sent to me and Azlin by Jho Low were very confidential and often sent through random email addresses. I confirm that the email address often used by Jho Low to arrange the meetings and send the documents to me and Azlin was dealrainman1@gmail.com,” he said, adding that the emails were sent to his email address at amharifnd@yahoo.co.uk and to Azlin at azlinalias@gmail.com.
“After 1MDB became an issue, Jho Low often had a password for every document attached to his email. The password will be notified to me and Azlin via BBM message,” he added.
Amhari Efendi said his role was only to arrange the meetings and he would do his own thing, as the discussion was between Jho low and Azlin.
“I was rarely referred to. The meeting took place in a friendly manner as Jho Low has a character that is well-liked by others and he always smiles.
“Every time we met, Jho Low would tell us that he had met or recently met with Datuk Seri Najib and that Datuk Seri Najib wanted us to assist in the implementation of the follow-up actions.
“We had to carry out the instructions because we didn’t want to disobey orders and we also worried about our jobs. Moreover, Azlin was a loyalist. I have never seen him going against Datuk Seri Najib.
“This was one of the reasons why Datuk Azlin was selected as the principal private secretary to Najib. I, at the time, followed Datuk Azlin’s orders because he was my director.
“The frequency of our meetings with Jho Low was once or twice a month and organised by Jho Low through me,” he said, adding that Najib had never been involved in the private meeting among him, Jho Low and Azlin.
He gave two reasons for Najib not being present at the meeting.
“First was because he had given the mandate and authorisation to Jho Low, as told by Jho Low himself, and secondly, that was how Datuk Seri Najib co-ordinated and performed confidential work, which to work in silo and on a need-to-know basis,” he added.
Amhari Efendi said he found the meetings becoming weird when Jho Low began giving instructions that were aggressive and excessive and that they were required to execute the instructions immediately or during a short period of time.
“For example, the list of individual nominees for the 1MDB International Board of Advisor (BOA) was already shortlisted by Jho Low when the matter should be discussed with Datuk Seri Najib first,” he said, adding that there were certain occasions during the private meetings between Jho Low and Azlin, the latter looked startled and raised his eyebrows and even questioned Jho Low over some matters.
However, Jho Low would respond calmly and told us to refer to Datuk Seri Najib for confirmation, he added.
He said according to Azlin, Najib had given Jho Low the authority to make plans regarding 1MDB’s actions.
Najib is facing four charges of using his position to obtain gratification totalling RM2.3 billion in 1MDB funds and 21 counts of money laundering involving the same money.
The Pekan member of parliament is alleged to have committed the gratification offences at Jalan Raja Chulan branch of the AmIslamic Bank Berhad, at No. 55, Jalan Raja Chulan, Bukit Ceylon here between Feb 24, 2011 and Dec 19, 2014, while for the money laundering cases between March 22, 2013 and Aug 30, 2013, at the same place.
The hearing before judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues tomorrow. — Bernama
