KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 30): A central bank analyst confirmed that Good Star Ltd whose beneficiary was fugitive financier Low Taek Jho received US$700 million in September 2009.
The prosecution's 47th witness, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) analyst Adam Ariff Mohd Roslan also verified that the documents indicated that the Good Star account was opened about three months before the monies were transferred.
When deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Kamal Baharin Omar showed the account opening form for Good Star's RBS Coutts account, the witness verified before the High Court on Wednesday (Aug 30) that it was opened between June 9 and June 11, 2009 and that the beneficiary was Jho Low.
Defence counsel Farhan Shafee, however, objected to the admissibility of these and other documents linked to the transaction.
Adam Ariff testified that 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) had instructed Deutsche Malaysia to transfer US$1 billion to two Swiss based accounts as follows: US$300 million to JP Morgan Suisse with the beneficiary account 7619400 and US$700 million to Coutts with the beneficiary account 11116073.
"Bank records confirm that account No 11116073 with Coutts is held under Good Star’s name and account No 7619400 with JP Morgan Suisse is held under 1MDB PetroSaudi’s name,
"1MDB PetroSaudi’s bank statement and records for account No 7619400 confirmed the receipt of the funds and recorded a credit of RM300 million on Sept 30, 2009," he said in the ongoing 1MDB-Tanore trial.
He said that on Sept 30, 2009, 1MDB transferred approximately RM3.49 billion to Deutsche Bank (Malaysia) Bhd and on the same day 1MDB instructed Deutsche Bank to transfer US$1 billion to two aforementioned accounts.
The US$1 billion was to be invested in a joint venture (JV) between 1MDB and PetroSaudi called 1MDB PetroSaudi Ltd. However, the US$700 million was diverted to Good Star. The offshore entity was falsely described as the wholly owned subsidiary of PSI but Jho Low was its beneficiary.
As reported previously, Good Star was incorporated in the Seychelles on May 18, 2009, merely months before the parties entered into the JV agreement.
Adam Ariff was seconded to the 1MDB task force of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) as an analyst and he had been tasked to identify links between funds raised by 1MDB and the monies former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak received in his two personal bank accounts.
As part of his investigation, he had prepared a 76-page report detailing the money trail and was going through it and verifying the respective documents in court on Wednesday.
Earlier, he had also confirmed that RM2.28 billion in two of Najib's AmBank accounts could be traced to 1MDB.
Najib is on trial on four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering involving RM2.28 billion of 1MDB funds.
The trial before judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues on Sept 18.
The Edge is covering the trial live here.
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