KUALA LUMPUR (April 5): In what could rival the plot of an espionage movie, the 1Malaysia Development Bhd Tanore (1MDB-Tanore) trial took a detour on Friday, retracing the journey of 1MDB's former general counsel Jasmine Loo in neighbouring Myanmar after she absconded from Malaysia.
The prosecution's 50th witness revealed that she entered Myanmar in 2019 and was escorted by the military there. She remained in the country until 2023.
The 50-year-old also testified that she had her Malaysian passport with her, but it was not stamped upon her arrival. Rather, soon after, she was given another travel document arranged by her associate and fugitive, Low Taek Jho (Jho Low), to reflect that she was a Myanmar local and had entered the country legally.
Loo's recollection of her time in the Indochina region came about when defence counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah pushed her to reveal the details of the "troubles" she faced in Myanmar.
The defence was pursuing this line of argument in their larger attempt to crack Loo's credibility as a witness. Loo is a former 1MDB's personnel and is often described as part of Jho Low's inner circle.
Shafee: You were willing to go through criminal ways to save yourself?
Loo: That's not true. I was going to enter Myanmar legally, but it (the passport) was not stamped. Then I was 'taken' by the Myanmar military. It was a situation hoisted on me.
Shafee: Did you tell the Malaysian authorities they have to do something?
Loo: Not immediately.
Loo clarified that she was picked up by the military and was in Yangon while negotiating a deal with Malaysia. On the stand, Loo also denied that she was held under house arrest and insisted that she was free to move around.
Loo also said that she had begun negotiating her return to Malaysia in 2021. She said that this was done through letters of representation sent to the Malaysian government by her lawyers.
On the stand on Friday, Loo asserted that Jho Low arranged the passport or travel documents for her, but insisted that she did not do anything illegal by her own will.
This then prompted Shafee to suggest — once again — that Loo was working hand-in-glove with Jho Low, akin to notorious criminal couple Bonnie and Clyde who went on a robbery spree around America during the Depression era.
Loo disagreed, as she had done throughout her time on the stand.
Loo had left the country around April 2018 before the 14th General Election (GE) which saw the fall of the Datuk Seri Najib Razak-lead Barisan Nasional government. She returned to the country last July and has been assisting the authorities with 1MDB asset recovery.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohamad Mustafa P Kunyalam interjected and asked what was the relevance of Shafee's line of questioning.
However, Judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah said that the objective of this portion was to destroy the credibility of Loo as a witness. and allowed Shafee to continue his questions.
Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is the sole individual accused of 25 abuse of power and money-laundering charges in this trial.
Loo says she negotiated deal with IRB involving sum of RM2.5 mil
When questioned with regards to the Inland Revenue Board's (IRB) suit against Loo over unpaid taxes amounting to RM2.49 million, Loo also confirmed that she has since reassessed her income with the IRB and is currently paying back taxes on all the excess income from the 1MDB era.
She said she began negotiations with the IRB sometime in 2020 or 2021 before she returned to Malaysia.
Loo once again confirmed that she was with the strategic development firm from May 2011 till October 2013. She added that she intended to resign much earlier, but she was told that they needed to find her replacement. Loo said that she was trying to pursue other opportunities like going into investments on her own, including venturing into the property market.
She testified that Jho Low paid her RM100 million from 2011 to 2014, and confirmed that she received the funds in 2014.
Loo said that this was part of monies she pooled together with Jho Low and his companies, as part of their "joint-venture" to make investments. She said that per their agreement she acted like a "trustee" holding the funds.
She also disagreed with Shafee's suggestion that these monies ended up in her pocket as a gift.
Loo added that she did make some returns from the investments but when news of 1MDB broke in 2015, she didn't do anything with the assets.
Arab donation letter: Loo says merely conveying what she saw
Earlier, Shafee had pivoted to Loo's previous testimony on the Arab donation letters. The letters are pivotal as Najib's defence is that the sums that went into his account were a donation as relayed in the four letters.
Loo had previously testified that she caught a glimpse of one of these letters in early 2015, while in London.
She had testified that Jho Low asked her to meet him at Mayfair Hotel and when she arrived at the venue, the late Kee Kok Thiam, Datuk Shamsul Anwar Sulaiman from Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd, and Dennis See were also there.
Loo overheard discussions about "solutions" to the monies Najib had received and heard Jho Low ordering Kee to prepare a confirmation letter from Prince Saud to state that the money in the former PM's account was a donation from Saudi Arabia.
Shafee: What you are suggesting here [is that] these donation letters were fabricated in Mayfair?
Loo: I'm not suggesting that. I'm merely telling you what I saw and heard. I thought that at that time Jho Low was trying to help [to get] a letter from Prince Saud on whatever funds that had gone in.
Shafee: "Had gone in". [This] is a sham, fraudulent letter, right under your nose.
Loo: I didn't know when the letter would be dated.
Shafee said that based on information Loo acquired years later, she gave this information to the authorities. He asks why Jho Low would have Loo in the room just to witness the fabrication of the letter.
"They didn't stop their discussion when you came in," Shafee asked.
Loo said that she was there to discuss something else with Jho Low and merely stumbled into their discussions and saw the draft letter.
Shafee: This is perhaps to justify the money that had gone through. You would have known that as a lawyer and not a layman that this is very fishy.
Loo: Yes.
Shafee: Jho Low or Kee [Kok Thiam] would have never allowed you to have the slightest view [of the letter] unless you were the "same kaki", you were part of the conspiracy.
Loo: I disagree.
Loo has been released from the stand and is subject to recall. The trial continues on April 22.
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 board of advisers to receive gratifications worth RM2.27 billion. He also faces 21 money laundering charges.
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