KUALA LUMPUR (March 10): Embattled former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has hired US-based Karv Communications to provide strategic communications and media relations support.

Virginia-based political journalism company Politico Influence on Tuesday (March 8), citing a spokesperson for the firm, has reported that Karv will serve as a subcontractor to Najib’s attorney Tania Scivetti for an initial period of two months “to help ensure Najib Razak’s actions and views are understood by US journalists and presented accurately in any US media coverage — including during the trial of Roger Ng currently underway in the Eastern District of New York”.

The report added that according to the Department of Justice (DOJ) filings, Karv will receive US$140,000 (RM586,110) for two months of work.

Politico Influence said Ng’s trial, which kicked off last month, “will most likely be the only trial that will take place on US soil over the looting of 1MDB”.

It said the alleged mastermind of the 1MDB scandal, Low Taek Jho, was a key figure in charges against GOP fundraiser Elliott Broidy, an ally of former president Donald Trump who was pardoned after pleading guilty to conspiring to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act. 

Broidy allegedly worked with two others to conceal efforts to soften the Trump administration's stance on the 1MDB fraud, which included alleged efforts by Broidy to set up a round of golf between Trump and Najib.