KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 18): Former 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) chief executive officer Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi told the High Court on Tuesday that former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had signed 1MDB-related documents implicating him in the multibillion-dollar scandal.

Testifying as the fourth plaintiff witness in the US$5.64 billion civil suit brought by 1MDB against Najib and other former members of 1MDB’s management, Shahrol said fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) had pre-prepared the minutes of the meeting Shahrol had with Najib on Oct 16, 2009.

This was purportedly treated as a Board of Advisors (BOA) meeting between the two, as Najib was the chairman of the BOA at the time.

At this meeting, matters discussed included the board of directors’ concern over valuer Edward L Morse's “speed and valuation” of PetroSaudi International Ltd (PSI) assets for a joint venture (JV) with 1MDB. PSI was touted to be a Saudi-linked oil company.

Lawyer GK Ganesan — representing former 1MDB director of investments Kelvin Tan Kay Jin, the seventh defendant in the suit — had asked Shahrol about this meeting, and the minutes prepared by Jho Low, who had not attended the meeting. 

Ganesan: Were you the one who recorded these minutes?

Shahrol: No. 

Ganesan: Just now you said you recorded it, now you said you didn’t. Can you please tell the court who recorded this?

Shahrol: Jho Low produced the draft of the minutes.

Ganesan: Ah, Jho Low was there?

Shahrol: No. 

Ganesan: Jho Low wasn’t there, but he produced the draft. How did he know what happened in that meeting?

Shahrol: It was pre-prepared. I brought the document to the prime minister (Najib) and he signed it.

Ganesan then launched into one of the more pointed exchanges of the cross-examination, questioning how Najib could simply sign a document prepared by Jho Low, who Shahrol said was not present at the meeting.

Ganesan: So, the prime minister of Malaysia looks at this document, is bereft of intellectual ability, and he just signs it. Yes? Is that what you are telling the court?

Shahrol: I would not use those words.

Ganesan then subsequently put it to Shahrol that his account of what happened during the Oct 16 meeting was false and fraudulent.

Ganesan: I put it to you that your version of what actually happened on the 16th of October is false and fraudulent. Yes or no?

Shahrol: Disagree. 

Ganesan then sought to establish whether Shahrol had ever personally seen Najib write any of the notes or instructions attributed to him.

Ganesan: You never saw the prime minister write any one of these notes or instructions ever, yes?

Shahrol: That is correct.

The board of directors of 1MDB had wanted a second evaluation done after Morse’s reports. 

The assets were valued between US$2.7 billion and US$4.5 billion and prepared within eight days. This valuation was part of 1MDB's JV with PSI.  

However, money for the JV was eventually misappropriated, with US$700 million diverted to Good Star Ltd, an outfit linked to Jho Low.

The JV agreement was also not entered into with PSI, but rather with a company called PetroSaudi Holdings (Cayman) Ltd.

In 2024, Najib, who was testifying in the criminal iteration of the 1MDB trial known as the 1MDB-Tanore trial where he was found guilty, took the stand to deny that he signed the minutes. 

Najib also denied Shahrol’s claims that the particular meeting took place. 

Najib affirmed that the 1MDB BOA, which he had helmed, had never officially convened. This is a fact long-established in the course of the trial.

Najib said there was never a request by the company for the BOA to convene to seek the board’s advice.

Although there was no official BOA meeting, throughout the trial, there have been several BOA meeting minutes produced, in which Najib and Shahrol were the only attendees.

The trial before High Court Judicial Commissioner Mohamad Redzuan Idrus continues on Wednesday, with Shahrol still on the stand.