Friday 29 Mar 2024
By
main news image

This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on September 9, 2019 - September 15, 2019

LOW Taek Jho’s unusually close relationship with Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his family over the years gave the fugitive businessman unfettered access to the former prime minister. This, in turn, provided him with “extraordinary powers”, Datuk Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin testified last week.

Amhari, who was Najib’s former special officer from 2008 up to the 14th general election, said, “It was as if he was in the inner circle of Datuk Seri Najib and Datin Seri Rosmah [Mansor].”

The close symbiotic relationship between the two men has been at the crux of the SRC International Sdn Bhd trial and now, the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) or Tanore case.

Low wore many hats. He was the unofficial adviser to Najib on behind-the-scene duties, covering many important transactions, including international programmes, official work visits and investment proposals as well as politics. In 1MDB, he played an instrumental role.

Possessing incredible charisma and influence, Low was described by Amhari as the kind of person who would order people from the Prime Minister’s Office to carry out instructions that he said emanated from Najib.

This extended to Amhari and his boss, the late Datuk Azlin Alias, who was also Najib’s former principal private secretary up to 2015, when he was killed in a helicopter crash.

“Jho Low was Najib’s political planner and one who arranged funds for the former prime minister. His role extended to include government-to-government negotiations. When the Terengganu Investment Authority was formed, Jho Low claimed to be an adviser to Sultan of Terengganu Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin (the then Yang di-Pertuan Agong),” said Amhari.

Such was his influence that the individuals that he recommended as directors to 1MDB’s board or to the board of special advisers were invariably approved by Najib, he said.

In his witness statement and during cross-examination by the defence last week, he outlined various episodes that helped form his impression of the relationship that stemmed from Low’s initial teenage friendship with Najib’s stepson, Riza Shahriz Abdul Aziz. Moreover, Najib’s wife and Riza’s mother, Rosmah, often telephoned Low.

“Jho Low told me many times that he regularly met Najib’s family and at times, he knew more of their plans, beyond my knowledge as Najib’s special officer,” said Amhari.

Low’s ambitions for money and power were evident in the email address he gave himself — [email protected] — the random email he used to send documents prior to secret meetings he would call with Amhari and Azlin once or twice a month at Prince Hotel. Najib was never present at those meetings. Low, who was perennially late, would claim that he had arrived from a prior meeting at the prime minister’s house.

In any event, Amhari said, instructions given by Low during the meetings were invariably approved by Najib.

Low’s manipulative skills included the ability to charm. He was easy to talk to and smiled frequently. But it was his manipulative behaviour that stood out. “Throughout my experience with Jho Low, I found that he was clever in manipulating officers at various levels and ranks, whether in Malaysia or overseas, most of which Najib knew of. Hence, only Jho Low and Najib would know of the complete picture of the chess game they had arranged,” said Amhari.

Low also made sure to reward adherence to his instructions, arguably ensuring even greater buy-in of his proposals or requirements. For instance, he provided Amhari with a personal loan of US$200,000 to buy a house and indicated that he could take his time to repay the loan.

And previously in the SRC International trial of Najib, it was revealed in BlackBerry Messenger chats between AmBank relationship manager Joanna Yu Ging Ping and a third person — purportedly Low — that both Cheah Tek Kuang (former AmBank managing director) and Yu had received two iPhone 5s phones each as gifts from the third person.

The carrot-and-stick approach was also used by Najib as Amhari testified that Najib had agreed to appoint him a director at Khazanah Nasional Bhd with a monthly salary of RM55,000. Moreover, as a co-founder and director of Orb Solutions Sdn Bhd, which provided online services for Najib and which received RM2 million, Amhari was paid RM20,000 a month.

Whether Najib and Low agreed on the strategy or not, Amhari said Najib divided top-secret and confidential tasks within his inner circle such that the officers were unable to get a full picture of the final objective of projects. The officers worked in silos and on a need-to-know basis to keep matters confidential, he claimed.

In hindsight, Amhari maintained that he only knew now what he should have known then. “Jho Low was a master manipulator and in this situation, I can say now that I had been used for dishonest purposes. Many things that happened, Datuk Azlin and I only knew of after the 1MDB issue was reported as an embezzlement issue within and outside the country because our work had been done in silos.”

During cross-examination, lead defence counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah asked Amhari to clarify what he meant by “master manipulator”.

Amhari: In an overwhelming way, he was able to persuade people in various positions to get what he wanted, to the point that most of the time, we didn’t even know who these people were.

Shafee: In other words, Jho Low was a puppet master, and you and others were merely puppets?

Amhari: I can agree with that.

The trial continues on Tuesday.

 

Save by subscribing to us for your print and/or digital copy.

P/S: The Edge is also available on Apple's AppStore and Androids' Google Play.

      Print
      Text Size
      Share