KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 12): Former AmBank managing director Cheah Tek Kuang told the High Court on Wednesday (Oct 12) that fugitive financier Low Taek Jho or Jho Low was the one who introduced him to Datuk Seri Najib Razak at his private residence in Jalan Langgak Duta, when the ex-banker went there in 2011 to help open the former prime minister’s bank accounts.

Cheah, 75, who is the 39th prosecution witness in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd-Tanore (1MDB-Tanore) trial, said that Jho Low was the one who made the introduction to Najib when he arrived at the house.

Answering questions from the lead prosecutor in the case, Datuk Sri Gopal Sri Ram, Cheah detailed the meeting with Najib in his house.

Sri Ram: You said Jho Low was there. Can you clarify that when you arrived [at Najib's house], was Jho Low already there?

Cheah: He was in a different car when I walked into Najib's house.

Sri Ram: Was he the one who introduced you [to Najib]?

Cheah: Ya. Then he went off to another room.

Cheah also said that he was nervous about being in Najib’s house as he was “generally uncomfortable” around VIPs, and he left the house immediately after facilitating the signing of the documents.

Sri Ram: You said you were nervous?

Cheah: I generally feel uncomfortable around VIPs.

Sri Ram: After that (the signing of the documents), you left?

Cheah: Ya, I 'cabut' (left) already.

Sri Ram: Where was Jho Low?

Cheah: I didn't know where he was. I presume he was in the house.

Cheah last week said that when he went to Najib’s house, Jho Low did not talk to him.

“He did not talk to me, and I did not talk to him at all,” he said before judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah.

He previously testified that he was picked up by a driver to go to Najib’s house in 2011, and was accompanied by “two or three” other cars, and they made their way to Najib’s residence.

He told the court that he was only accompanied by the driver in the car.

“When the car came to pick me up [to go to Najib's house], there were two or three other cars. They picked me up somewhere near my house.

“I did see Jho Low in the other car. I went into the house and [went] into a separate room. [Jho] Low went into a separate room,” he said.

Cheah admitted that he was not sure of the details, as it happened many years ago, and that he is forgetful in his old age. 

Wednesday’s testimony reflects what Cheah said in Najib’s SRC International Sdn Bhd trial in 2019.

SRC is a former subsidiary of 1MDB.

Previously, when Cheah testified as a witness in the SRC trial — where Najib was found guilty of seven charges of abuse of power, criminal breach of trust, and money laundering — he spoke about meeting Jho Low at Najib’s house when he went to open the accounts.

He said that it was Jho Low who took him into Najib’s house and introduced him to Najib.

“Once I arrived at Najib’s residence, I met with Jho Low, whom I have previously met. I was then taken into the residence by Jho Low, who introduced me to Najib, and Jho Low also informed him that I was from AmBank.

“Najib and I proceeded to the guestroom, while I saw Jho Low waiting at a different part of the residence,” Cheah told the court, as reported by The Edge in 2019.

After signing the documents, Najib reportedly told him that US$100 million from the Saudi royalty will come into the accounts. Cheah said he did not ask the purpose the funds were coming in for. But Najib elaborated that it was a donation to him from Saudi Arabia, in line with “Islamic activity”.

Najib is charged in the 1MDB-Tanore trial with four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering involving RM2.28 billion of 1MDB funds.

The Edge is covering the trial live here.

Users of The Edge Markets app may tap here to access the live report.