1MDB trial: Jho Low ordered associate to prepare Arab donation letter justifying monies for Najib, courts told

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court was told that fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho had ordered one of his close associates to prepare an Arab donation letter to justify monies that were funnelled into Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s bank account.

Former 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) general counsel Jasmine Loo testified that she had seen a draft of the letter on the screen of a computer at London’s Mayfair Hotel business centre room in early 2015.

Loo said she had gone to London then to meet Low at the hotel.

“As I reached the room, I saw Kee Kok Thiam, Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd (IPSB) managing director Datuk Shamsul Anwar Sulaiman, and Yayasan Rakyat 1Malaysia (YR1M) project director Dennis See.

“At that time, Shamsul was asking Low about the solution relating to the money in Najib’s account that was said to come from 1MDB.

“After that, Jho Low ordered Kee to prepare a confirmation letter from Prince Saud to state that the monies in Najib’s account were a donation from Saudi Arabia,” she said at Najib’s RM2.28bil 1MDB corruption trial here on Wednesday (Feb 14).

ALSO READ: ‘Jho Low was seen as Najib’s proxy’

Loo said she had stepped out of the room with Low for a short while to have a discussion on another matter, and when she returned to the room, she saw Kee was preparing a draft of the donation letter from Prince Saud.

The letter was dated June 1, 2014, but the witness said she believed that date was backdated.

“I am not sure about the donation amount.

“At that time, the draft did not carry a signature, and I am not sure when the letter was sent to Najib,” she added.

The 50th prosecution witness also said that she has no knowledge of other Arab donation letters except for the one she had seen.

ALSO READ: 1MDB trial: I waited outside Najib’s house while Jho Low went in to get signature, says Jasmine Loo

Kee, who was said to be a close associate of Low, was repatriated to Malaysia in May last year. It was reported that he died due to a sudden stroke on May 29, 2023.

Najib’s defence team had previously produced four purported letters in the 1MDB trial, claiming that the funds that entered Najib’s accounts were Saudi donations.

Najib, 70, is on trial for 25 charges in total – four for abuse of power that allegedly brought him the financial benefit to the tune of RM2.28bil; and 21 for money laundering involving the same amount of money.

The trial continues before Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah on Friday.