This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on February 10, 2020 - February 16, 2020

IN his testimony at the SRC International Sdn Bhd trial last week, former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak told the High Court that he had trusted fugitive financier Low Taek Jho because Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin, the Sultan of Terengganu and the then Yang di-Pertuan Agong, had taken a special liking to Low and was impressed at the Penang-born businessman’s influential contacts.

One such contact was the Saudi Arabian royal family, and Najib had sought to use Low as a middleman to build bilateral relations between Malaysia and the royals. At one point, he said, Low’s connections were used to help get clearance for Malaysian planes to land in Jeddah to evacuate students from Egypt during the Arab Spring uprising.

But it is worth noting that Najib’s testimony on his relationship and dealings with Low have sometimes been contradictory, as has his claim that Sultan Mizan liked Low.

Najib’s defence in the case is that he had been “baited” and made use of by Low in the latter’s pursuit of swindling the government out of billions of ringgit.

The prosecution, meanwhile, maintains that both men worked hand in glove, with Low enlisting Najib’s help to procure the funds by wielding his power and influence as prime minister and finance minister.

Last week, the former prime minister indicated that he had chosen to entrust Low with Saudi diplomatic functions — the existence of diplomatic channels via Wisma Putra, notwithstanding — as he also had the intention of seeking donations from the Saudis for the 13th general election.

“Tuanku Mizan had trusted him (Low). I had no reason to doubt him because he had a proven track record with the Saudis,” Najib testified. “I was also aware that the Saudis are particularly generous in supporting friendly Muslim countries around the world.”

When Najib was asked by his lawyer, Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, during his re-examination whether he had any inkling that Low would turn out to be an unsavoury character, he said he had not foreseen it.

“No. His personal demeanour did not show that and it is also worth mentioning that Tuanku Mizan, the [Yang di-Pertuan] Agong, had great confidence in him,” said Najib.

Sultan Mizan doubted ‘unsavoury character’ Jho Low

Najib’s claims aside, earlier witnesses had testified to Sultan Mizan’s dissatisfaction with Low when the businessman attempted in May 2009 to bulldoze the issuance of RM5 billion Islamic medium-term notes by Terengganu Investment Authority Bhd (TIA) — a specially established entity under the Terengganu government led by the state’s royalty.

Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi, the former CEO of 1Malaysia Development Bhd — the successor to TIA — and the ninth prosecution witness in the 1MDB-Tanore trial, testified last year to a meeting with the Terengganu ruler and his sister, Tengku Datuk Rahimah Puteri Sultan Mahmud, on May 22, 2009, during which he was asked to sign a resolution for the suspension of the IMTN issuance.

Shahrol said Sultan Mizan was upset and referred to an “unsavoury character”, which he believed referred to Low.

Najib continued to trust Jho Low because cheques ‘did not bounce’

Najib scoffed at the prosecution’s claim that he had knowingly siphoned off money from a Minister of Finance Inc company into his personal accounts.

“It is so ludicrous for me to take money from a MoF Inc company (SRC International) to begin with and in some way or manner put it into my personal account. If I wanted to cheat, I would have been a stupid person to put it in my personal account.

“I’m not the most intelligent, but I’m not so stupid as to put stolen money into a personal account,” he stressed. “I wouldn’t do something so bizarre.”

Najib contended that Low had put RM42 million of SRC funds into his accounts to disguise the latter’s purloining of billions of ringgit from 1MDB.

“He must have thought that if he didn’t continue to ensure money in my account, it would affect his relationship with me. More seriously, it would lead me to uncover his scams.

“He did it to ensure I had faith in him … RM42 million is minuscule compared to what he did. He saw this as an investment to continue to benefit,” he said.

By Najib’s reckoning, Low had also done everything — including ensuring cheques that Najib had written to the tune of RM42 million did not bounce by topping up his bank accounts when they were low or in deficit — to prevent him from getting suspicious.

“If he did not ensure that the purported donation money was in my account, I would start getting suspicious of my cheques bouncing, which would mean that I would ask questions and investigate. I would have found out that this was a scam,” Najib said, adding that he had only found out about Low’s schemes when he was questioned by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission in 2015 and throughout the course of the trial.

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