KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 8): The defence will continue with the cross-examination of the ninth prosecution witness, former 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) chief executive officer Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi, today.
During yesterday's proceedings, the first day of cross-examination, Shahrol said his role as CEO did not mean that he was supposed to "do everything" as he relied on the expertise of Low Taek Jho and Casey Tang Keng Chee when it came to financial matters.
Responding to questions from Datuk Seri Najib Razak's lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, the witness said he had trusted Low and Tang "explicitly and implicitly" during his time at 1MDB, from 2009 to 2015.
"If you had complete implicit and explicit trust in these individuals, would you blame my client for trusting Jho Low? You yourself got conned!" said the lawyer.
"... I wouldn't blame him," Shahrol responded after a pause.
He revealed that Low's role in 1MDB was kept hidden, as there were people within Umno who were unhappy with the financier's direct access to Najib, and such a revelation would affect the former premier's position in the political party.
Shahrol said there was a lot of envy against Low's influence on Najib.
"That was why it made sense to me when Jho Low told me that his involvement needed to be kept low-key as to not jeopardise Najib's position in Umno. That was the explanation from 2010 onwards and I accepted that explanation," said Shahrol.
Meanwhile, the witness also spoke about the initial public offering (IPO) of 1MDB Energy, talking about how the listing exercise would have been successful if not for the negative publicity spread by the opposition at the time.
If the IPO did go through, he said, this would have solved many of 1MDB's financial problems, while the projects and investments by the fund would have also gone through without a hitch.
The Edge is bringing the proceedings live.