Najib's 1MDB trial: Prosecution plans to call Jasmine Loo as witness
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 18 — The prosecution is planning to call in 1Malaysia Development Berhad’s (1MDB) former in-house lawyer Jasmine Loo as a prosecution witness in former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s trial at the High Court here.
Towards the end of the 1MDB trial proceedings today, Najib’s lead defence lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said the prosecution has “indicated” that it would be calling in Loo as witness.
Trial judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah then remarked: “This is something new, isn’t it?”
Deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib then confirmed this new development, saying that this was due to the recent court testimony of the 48th prosecution witness, Assistant Commissioner of Police Foo Wei Min, in this 1MDB trial.
“This cropped up from the cross-examination of ACP Foo. There were parts where ACP Foo was allowed to give opinion on status of Jasmine Loo’s evidence given to him.
“Because of that, the gap may have been opened, so we are planning to call Jasmine Loo as a witness,” Akram said.
The 1MDB trial has gone on for about 195 days since it started on August 28, 2019.
Najib’s 1MDB trial will resume next year on January 2, with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) investigating officer Nur Aida Arifin expected to be called in as the 49th prosecution witness.
Previously on August 28, Akram had only mentioned that Loo could potentially be a prosecution witness in Najib’s 1MDB trial, but had at that time said the prosecution had yet to decide if she would actually be called in as a witness.
On November 16, Foo said he had this year recorded Loo’s statement as part of police investigations following her arrest in Kuala Lumpur, saying among other things that she had confirmed that she met Malaysian fugitive Low Taek Jho — better known as Jho Low — in China in 2019.
Among other things, Foo had also testified that Loo and Low had been in contact with each other in the last five years while she had absconded from Malaysia.
Bank Negara Malaysia analyst Adam Ariff Mohd Roslan arrives at the Kuala Lumpur High Court December 18, 2023. — Picture by Yusof Mat Isa
Earlier today, the 47th prosecution witness, Bank Negara Malaysia’s analyst Adam Ariff Mohd Roslan completed his testimony, subject to recall for further cross-examining by Shafee if necessary due to additional documents presented in court today. These additional documents were also provided to Najib’s legal team.
Among other things, Adam Ariff agreed with Shafee that it is for the High Court to draw a conclusion based on the facts presented in the 1MDB trial.
Adam Ariff told deputy public prosecutor Kamal Baharin Omar that he had not claimed to be an expert and that his analysis of the money trail in the 1MDB case was based on banking documentations provided to him. Adam Ariff said he does not need the original copies of documents for his analysis.
Adam Ariff told Shafee that the additional documents — in two folders presented to the court today — were those that he had also sighted while analysing the money trail of 1MDB funds, but said these documents were only supporting documents which he did not find necessary to include in the list of key documents used to establish the money trail.
As for Adam Ariff’s May 21, 2018 letter of appointment as a BNM analyst seconded to the 1MDB task force which was also presented to the court today, Shafee remarked that it was dated about two weeks after Barisan Nasional lost the general elections in 2018 and that Adam Ariff was quickly appointed to assist the MACC in 1MDB investigations soon after the change of government.
Shafee read out excerpts from the letter, where Adam Ariff was appointed to be seconded to the 1MDB task force as an analyst from June 4, 2018 onwards, and where the task force was stated as being set up to conduct investigations on a “high-profile individual”.
Kamal Baharin today also informed the court that the next witness would be Nur Aida, but that she would only testify on January 2 as she is still under the last day of her Covid-19 quarantine.
Kamal Baharin also said the cross-examination of 46th prosecution witness, former Bank Negara Malaysia governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz, has yet to be completed, with Shafee then saying that he would be cross-examining Zeti after Nur Aida has testified.
In reply to the judge asking if Zeti is the only witness pending in the list, Shafee indicated that Nur Aida’s testimony is linked to Zeti as well as previous prosecution witnesses, 1MDB former chief financial officer Azmi Tahir and its former CEO Mohd Hazem Abd Rahman. Shafee then also mentioned Loo’s name, which led to Akram’s confirmation of the prosecution’s plans to call her as a witness.
