Ex-CFO of 1MDB, Azmi Tahir, affirmed his belief that Jho Low was a representative of then prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in 1MDB matters. — Reuters pic
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 26 — A former 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) CFO today pointed out that Low Taek Jho was not a random person that he had met on the street, and affirmed his belief that Low — otherwise known as Jho Low — was a representative of then prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in 1MDB matters.
Azmi Tahir, the ex-CFO of 1MDB, said this while testifying as the 12th prosecution witness in Najib’s trial over the misappropriation of more than RM2 billion of 1MDB funds.
Najib’s lawyer Datuk Hariharan Tara Singh was asking if Azmi thought it was inappropriate to take instructions from Low, who was not part of the 1MDB company, on 1MDB matters.
Azmi however shot back: “No, because the events leading to how I met him and all that, and what I believed and everyone else. We thought he was legitimately representing Datuk Seri Najib.
“I didn’t meet him off the road somewhere and he was introduced by Datuk Azlin,” Azmi said when pointing out Azlin — who was Najib’s aide — had introduced him to Low.
Previously, Azmi had in his witness statement told the court that he had joined 1MDB as CFO on June 1, 2012, and that he was contacted about one or two weeks later by Datuk Azlin Alias who was working in the Prime Minister’s Office then as the economic division director.
Azmi said that Azlin wanted to introduce him to Low and that it was the first time he had heard of Low who was introduced as Najib’s 1MDB adviser.
Azmi had also previously testified that he had first met Low around June 2012 in Low’s office at KLCC shortly after Azmi joined 1MDB, adding that it was Azlin who had contacted him to meet with Low.
Azmi had said that Low had told him that all instructions from Low and Azlin are “mandates” from Najib, adding that he had later verified with Azlin that Low’s instructions were correct.
After receiving confirmation from Azlin regarding what Low had said in the June 2012 meeting, Azmi said he had from that point onwards carried out every instruction from Low and Azlin as he believed those were mandates from Najib and he had to follow them.
Azlin later also became Najib’s special officer and subsequently Najib’s principal private secretary in 2014. Azlin was killed in an April 2015 helicopter crash.
The trial before High Court judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah resumes this afternoon, where Hariharan is expected to continue cross-examining Azmi.
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