Jho Low's central role with Najib ‘significant’, judge says, citing vacations

Friday 25 Sep 2026

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PUTRAJAYA (Dec 26): Federal Court judge Datuk Seri Collin Lawrence Sequerah said in his judgment on Friday at the 1MDB-Tanore trial that fugitive Low Taek Jho or Jho Low had personally arranged and coordinated several of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s family vacations, where his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor and their children had, at the invitation of Middle Eastern royalty, sailed in a yacht in waters off France, Greece and Italy while on family vacations together — proving that Najib did indeed know Jho Low.

Sequerah, who was reading his final judgment in the seven-year-long trial, said that he relied on testimony by Najib's former special officer Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Shihab (who was a prosecution witness in the trial) and photographs submitted as evidence of the people vacationing together, which shows Najib and Jho Low had a relationship.

He referenced yacht trips where Najib and his family had been on vacation: on the RM Elegance in 2009 in Nice, France, and in 2010, the Golden Odyssey in Greece and Italy, and in 2013, the Topaz Yacht in Cote D’Azure, Nice.

“Shihab had testified that all arrangements proposed by Jho Low were confirmed by the accused (Najib) without objection. Photographs were also tendered in evidence showing Jho Low accompanying the accused, Rosmah, their children and foreign business associates including officials linked to Aabar Investments,” he said.

"The central role of Jho Low with Najib is significant," the judge stressed.

Wan Ahmad previously testified that Jho Low contacted him in August 2009, and it was the first time that he had communicated with Jho Low.

He said that Low told him a Kuwaiti prince had invited Najib and family to holiday on the prince's yacht, the RM Elegance.

Wan Ahmad said he then made arrangements for the trip, which involved about 20 people, including Najib and Rosmah’s children Norashman Najib and Nooryana Najwa, as well as Rosmah's son Riza Aziz.

Other participants of the entourage included accompanying officers, maids and household staff.

For the second yacht vacation, Wan Ahmad said Najib and his family sailed on waters off Greece and Italy, on the Golden Odyssey at the invitation of a Saudi prince. However, Wan Ahmad could not recall the name of the prince.

On this trip, the entourage comprising Najib, Rosmah, their children and accompanying officers boarded a government-owned plane from Kuala Lumpur to Athens, Greece on July 28, 2010.

Three years later, Najib and his family were invited again for a yacht holiday in the south of France, this time on board the Topaz, owned by Abu Dhabi Prince Sheikh Mansour.

Wan Ahmad confirmed during cross-examination that the Hollywood celebrity aboard the Topaz was Oscar winner Jamie Foxx and his family, together with Hollywood producer Joey McFarland, who was previously chairman of Red Granite Pictures, the studio which produced The Wolf of Wall Street and was co-founded by Riza Aziz.

Sequerah also recalled testimony by Wan Ahmad that Mohamed Ahmed Badawy Al-Husseiny — who ran a subsidiary of the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), the Abu Dhabi state-owned investment firm — that Jho Low and McFarland had met on the Topaz on that same trip in 2013, to discuss “filmmaking”.

Subsequently, the US Department of Justice, in its 1MDB investigations, publicly named Badawy as a major backer of IPIC’s film financing, with the company claiming that his investments were personal.

In 2019, an Abu Dhabi court sentenced Badawy to 10 years in prison on financial crime charges.

Sequerah will continue reading his judgment after Friday prayers.

No verdict has yet been given in the more than two dozen charges against the 72-year-old Najib, with the court breaking shortly after noon, Kuala Lumpur time. It is scheduled to resume after 3pm. Najib has consistently denied wrongdoing and can appeal any guilty verdict.

The Edge is covering the trial live here.

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