This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on September 23, 2019 - September 29, 2019
DATUK Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin’s credibility as a witness in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd-Tanore trial at the High Court was called into question by Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s defence team, which painted him as a collaborator of alleged mastermind Low Taek Jho’s in misleading his former boss as billions of ringgit were siphoned from the fund. Moreover, the defence suggested that Amhari had turned state witness in a bid to deny his own culpability.
The former special aide, who was one of Najib’s trusted lieutenants, told the court that he was made to handle matters regarding 1MDB after the death of Datuk Azlin Alias — Najib’s principal private secretary — in a helicopter crash in April 2015.
Najib’s lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah had previously raised the matter of a US$200,000 loan, which Amhari insisted was a bridging loan, given to him by Low for the purchase a house in Kota Damansara. The men did not sign an agreement for the interest-free loan.
Citing another example of Amhari’s lack of credibility, Shafee pointed to the deposit of US$800,000 in Amhari’s account with BSI Bank in Singapore opened under Aerosphere Ltd, of which he is a shareholder. Again, Amhari insisted that he and Azlin were told to open a Singapore account as a “standby fund” ahead of the 13th general election in 2013.
Last week, Shafee suggested that Amhari had retained vital documents related to 1MDB and did not shred them as instructed so that he could use them to implicate Najib and escape being charged.
In July last year, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission remanded Amhari for seven days and seized items from his house as well as documents that were stored in his cousin’s home. Low’s apartment in Kia Peng 3 was also raided.
Shafee said Amhari was beholden to Low after receiving the US$200,000 loan and US$800,000 deposit from the latter.
He also questioned why Amhari did not inform or checked with Najib despite his unease with the businessman’s instructions, given that Najib was his boss and he (Amhari) had access to him.
Amhari has in the main denied Shafee’s assertions and maintained that Najib occasionally agreed with Low’s directions. Thus, he concluded that Low had the former premier’s approval to instruct him.
Receiving US dollars from Low
Under cross-examination, Amhari admitted that he had received several thousands of US dollars from Low while accompanying Najib on official visits to New York and London.
Amhari initially appeared to have forgotten about receiving the US funds from Low, who was coincidentally in those cities at the time, raising doubts as to his reliability as a witness.
Shafee said Amhari had inveigled himself into the Abu Dhabi trip in 2016 to cover up mounting problems regarding 1MDB with the International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC) — it had promised two tranches of 1MDB bonds worth US$3.5 billion in total — although Amhari previously testified that Najib had sent him on a “secret mission” to persuade IPIC to not take the disputed issues to international arbitration.
Shafee’s contention follows his disclosure that Amhari is an indirect shareholder of Aabar Investments PJS Ltd (BVI), a company used by Low and his cohorts to mislead 1MDB that it was a unit of Abu Dhabi’s IPIC, which bears nearly the same name.
Shafee said the shareholder of Aabar-BVI — also known as the fake Aabar — is Tycoon Gain Ltd. Tycoon Gain is the sole shareholder of Aerosphere Ltd, the company owned by Amhari and to which account the US$800,000 was deposited in.
“I went there (Abu Dhabi) so that the relationship of both countries (Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates) can be maintained without IPIC being made [into] an issue,” Amhari said.
The defence had tried to shake Amhari’s character and credibility during the four-day cross-examination.
In his opening statement at the trial, senior deputy public prosecutor Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram revealed that US$577 million out of the US$1.75 billion raised by 1MDB from the first tranche that was to be paid to IPIC as security deposits for the guarantee granted, was siphoned through Aabar-BVI to Low-linked Blackstone Asia in 2012.
Of the second tranche of 1MDB bonds, about RM3 billion (estimated to be US$730 million) was transferred to Aabar-BVI. The transferred money was supposed to be paid to IPIC as security deposits for its guarantee.
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