KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 28): Former 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) general counsel, Jasmine Loo has denied that she was a "key component" in the entire 1MDB scam.
Testifying in the ongoing 1MDB-Tanore trial as the prosecution's 50th witness, Loo also denied making away with 1MDB funds and allegations that she was not satisfied with the sum she had purportedly received from the elaborate scheme.
Loo said this on Wednesday in response to lead defence counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah's questions on former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner's testimony in a separate case in the US concerning 1MDB.
Shafee: He described you as the number one henchman of Jho Low (fugitive Low Taek Jho).
Loo: That's his opinion.
Shafee: No, are you aware he said this?
Loo: No.
Shafee: He said that you were appointed basically to legalise documents that were basically illegal.
Loo: I'm not aware.
Shafee was loosely paraphrasing from Leissner's testimony in Roger Ng’s trial back in 2022, in which the former Goldman Sachs' Southeast Asia head was a star witness. It has to be noted that these were not Leissner's exact words per court documents.
Among others, Leissner had testified that Loo was a "key component of the 1MDB-Jho Low connection" who worked on "pretty much all" the transactions and structuring terms at the strategic development company.
Leissner also testified that he would go through Loo or former 1MDB chief financial officer Terence Geh to get to Jho Low.
He also testified that Loo received money from the 1MDB transactions. Leissner said that Jho Low confirmed this to him along with Loo herself.
"She expressed this to me in a meeting I had with her in Singapore, where she was waiting for her money to arrive in a Credit Suisse account that she had and she felt that money she was about to receive and waiting for was also not adequate," he testified during the Ng trial in New York.
However, on the stand on Wednesday, Loo denied all of Leissner's claims.
"I don't agree with any of the statements he has made. They are not true," she said.
Asked by Shafee if she had lodged any report on this, Loo, who had been a fugitive over the last five years, said that although she was aware of Ng’s trial as reported by the press, she had not come across the allegations the lawyer was referring to.
Loo says it was her impression that things had to be referred to Najib for green light
Earlier, Loo once again reiterated that when she joined 1MDB, it was her impression that everything needed to be floated up to Najib for his blessings before any project could be taken on.
"[My impression was] whatever 1MDB was going to undertake needed the blessing [of Najib] both [in his role] as PM of Malaysia and chairman of the Board of Advisors (BOA)," she said.
Shafee countered that, saying there is a distinction between Najib's role as the BOA chairman and his role as the then prime minister. Shafee went back to his line of argument established throughout this trial — that the BOA cannot commence without the BOD referring to them. This was not done in 1MDB's case.
He said the chairman of BOA is the first among equals and has no particular power in that role. Loo disagreed, countering that the sole shareholder, the BOA chairman and the prime minister, was essentially the same person.
Shafee also argued that there were no documents to indicate which role Najib was acting under in the fund's various decisions.
He said this should have been indicated clearly and that Loo was not performing her duties as general counsel. However, she reiterated that the practice in 1MDB was to refer to Najib.
Then it was Loo's job as legal counsel to advise the company on how to adhere to the terms of the company's mergers and acquisitions, said Shafee.
Shafee: But that is your job.
Loo: That is not my job. The practice was to refer to the PM of Malaysia, who is also the BOA chairman.
Shafee is expected to resume his cross-examination of Loo when the trial resumes on March 14.
In this trial, Najib faces four counts of abuse of power for using his position as then prime minister, finance minister and chairman of 1MDB’s BOA to receive gratifications worth RM2.27 billion. He also faces 21 money-laundering charges.
The Edge is covering the trial live here.
Users of The Edge Markets app may tap here to access the live report.