Jasmine Loo: I did not make a deal to testify against Najib

KUALA LUMPUR: A key witness in Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s RM2.28bil 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) reiterated that she did not make any deal with the prosecution to testify against the former prime minister.

Jasmine Loo, 50, who was 1MDB’s general counsel, also disagreed with a suggestion by Najibs’s lawyer, Tania Scivetti, that her testimony was in exchange for the prosecution not pursuing her court cases.

Loo, who was a fugitive until recently, was charged in absentia under Section 179 of the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007 for commissioning and abetment to misappropriate US$2.7bil from three 1MDB bonds underwritten by Goldman Sachs in 2018.

According to Loo, when the charges were filed against her, the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) did not call her to respond.

“My statement has not been recorded. However, since I returned to Malaysia, I have responded to the various authorities regarding the charges, which includes the SC,” she said.

Scivetti then asked whether the charges against Loo had been officially withdrawn.

“No, I am not saying that,” Loo replied.

Loo was also accused of laundering US$5.99mil, which was the proceeds of unlawful activity, into the account of River Dee International SA (BVI) in Falcon Private Bank AG in Zurich.

The offence under Section 4(1)(a) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 and punishable under Section 4(1) of the same Act, carries upon conviction a fine not exceeding RM5mil or imprisonment not exceeding five years, or both.

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 hearing continues before Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah on Friday (April 5).