‘No, no, no’: In 1MDB trial, Najib denies he as PM chose not to check Jho Low’s reason for flashy lifestyle 

PUTRAJAYA, Jan 16 — Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today denied that he had chosen not to check whether Low Taek Jho was telling the truth about why he was spending money in a flashy manner to buy luxurious properties.

Najib said this when testifying in his own trial involving 1Malaysia Development Berhad’s (1MDB) RM2 billion, which were alleged to have entered his personal bank accounts.

Najib claimed he did confront Low – better known as Jho Low – about the latter’s lifestyle, which included splashing millions to buy properties around the world.

Deputy public prosecutor Mohamad Mustaffa P Kunyalam quizzed Najib on whether he had also confronted Low on the latter’s controversial 1MDB-linked allegations

But Najib continued instead to focus on his confrontation with Low about the latter’s lifestyle, and Low’s claim of buying up properties for the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) then crown prince’s brother Sheikh Mansour Zayed Al Nahyan. Sheikh Mansour is also UAE’s deputy prime minister.

Mustaffa: That means in 2015, you already confronted him. Did you confront him about his dealings in 1MDB?

Najib: I asked him, ‘where did you get all these’, he said ‘No, no, no, I’m doing it for Sheikh Mansour’, that’s what he said, you know, ‘Sheikh Mansour’.

Mustaffa: Agree as prime minister and finance minister at that time, you are at the apex of authority in Malaysia to investigate the truthfulness of that?

Najib: That was in connection with another foreign government, you see, and Sheikh Mansour is brother to the crown prince.

Mustaffa then asked Najib if he was in a position to find out the truth at that time but he chose not to do so.

“No, no, no, I disagree with that,” Najib replied.

Mustaffa suggested that Najib turned a blind eye – in 2015 and even earlier than that – as he did not want to know the obvious, but the defendant disagreed: “No, no, no, that’s why I confronted him, I was not comfortable”.

Mustaffa: You didn’t want to take action against Jho Low at that time because he was working and doing your bidding at that time.

Najib: No, no, no, I only utilised Jho Low for international connection with Saudi, particularly Saudi and UAE, as I mentioned in my witness statement.

This exchange between Mustaffa and Najib took place after the former prime minister was shown an April 29, 2015 news report, which detailed Low’s “luxury portfolio” – including a penthouse in New York and mansion in Beverly Hills in the US, a high rise property in Hong Kong, and Singapore dollars S$54 million for two units in a posh Singapore apartment.

The 2015 news report also mentioned Low’s name as having repeatedly popped up in recent news reports on the controversy involving 1MDB.

Earlier, Najib said this was the first time he was seeing this 2015 news report, but confirmed there were rumours about Low’s purchases abroad, saying he could not remember when exactly these rumours were going on.

“I can’t remember exactly but there were stories around him about him acquiring properties and paintings,” he said.

Najib agreed that he was already aware around that time of Low’s reputation.

“Yes, and I confronted him actually about all these things, and he kept on saying I bought this because I was doing them for Sheikh Mansour. He repeated them to me two or three times, because I was not comfortable about the stories about his lifestyle, his rather ostentatious lifestyle.

“But that was his explanation to me, and I think he repeated to me several times, ‘Sheikh Mansour, Sheikh Mansour, Sheikh Mansour’,” he said.

He also agreed that such news reports raised alarm and red flags to him about Low’s behaviours and dealings, and reiterated that this was why he had confronted Low, only for the latter to insist that he was doing so for Sheikh Mansour.

“I was not easy with his lifestyle, it’s not something that I would approve of, you know,” he said.

Najib said he trusted Jho Low who projected a compelling image of being a “highly capable and well-connected individual” with ties to Malaysian royalty and the royal families of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

Before this 2015 report was shown to Najib, the defendant agreed that Low appeared in the news for the latter’s partying and that this occurred during his tenure as prime minister. Najib was PM from 2009 to 2018.

Shown a July 27, 2010 article which mentioned a “cherubic Jho Low” being photographed with hotel heiress Paris Hilton and her sister in a yacht, Najib said this specific report was not brought to his attention at that time, but said he knew about those parties.

“But I knew he had some rather publicised parties, yes, maybe not this specific article, but I do know he had some unwarranted publicity I would say, about some of the parties that he had,” Najib said.

The prosecution had said it would show Low was Najib’s mirror image for 1MDB dealings, but the defence has argued that this is not true.

Najib’s 1MDB trial before judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah resumes tomorrow.