Zeti: No one in my family received 1MDB money

Friday 26 Jul 2024

KUALA LUMPUR (July 27): Former Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz told the High Court that no one in her family had benefited from 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) monies.

Testifying as the prosecution's 46th witness in the ongoing 1MDB-Tanore trial on Thursday (July 27), Zeti, who had been the central bank governor for 16 years, said they had not taken a "single cent" from 1MDB.

Deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib: Throughout all these episodes, the transactions involving 1MDB, did you or any of your family members receive any benefits out of it?

Zeti: No one in my family ever has received or taken 1MDB's monies — not a single cent.

Last year, former Goldman Sachs Southeast Asia chairman Tim Leissner testified — in the 1MDB-linked bribery trial of ex-Goldman banker Roger Ng in New York — that Zeti’s husband Datuk Dr Tawfiq Ayman was bribed for BNM’s approval for an overnight transfer of US$1 billion for the PetroSaudi-1MDB joint-venture project.

Tawfiq was reported to have denied Leissner's testimony.

Subsequently, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki told the media that the MACC was tasked with repatriating some US$15.4 million of 1MDB funds linked to Tawfiq from Singapore, but added that the criminal side of the investigation was being handled by the police.

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.

Edited ByKathy Fong

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