KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 1 — Fugitive financier Low Taek Jho planned the visit of Abu Dhabi’s crown prince here in 2013 to raise support for Barisan Nasional ahead of the 13th general election, Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi told the High Court today.
Testifying against Datuk Seri Najib Razak during the latter’s 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) corruption trial, the firm’s former chief executive Shahrol said Low, or Jho Low, had organised the visit of General Sheikh Mohammed Zayed Al Nahyan to publicise the cooperation between the two countries in an effort to boost the public and investors’ confidence in BN.
“At the time the visit of the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi was also orchestrated by Jho Low as one of the political activities to give confidence to investors and the Malaysian people that a project is really happening.
“What I see from all the work that is being done and what had happened, it shows that all of this planning concludes to an objective which I’m not sure of.
“However, the fact that Jho Low told me that this fundraising will bring a huge impact in the GE, it is plausible and consistent seeing that the GE was conducted in the same year,’’ he said.
The project Shahrol is referring to is the US$6 billion joint venture between 1MDB and Abu Dhabi’s Aabar Investment PJS, which was officially formed April 16, 2013.
The joint venture would see 1MDB and Aabar inject US$3 billion respectively into the fund, with equal stakes.
Shahrol, also testified yesterday that Low had impressed on him that the fundraising would have a huge impact on the GE13 without elaborating.
Datuk Amhari Efendi Nazarrudin, a former special officer to Najib, testified last month that he and his immediate supervisor the late Datuk Azlin Alias had opened accounts at BSI Bank in Singapore in 2012 purportedly under the order of Low so that funds meant for the Barisan Nasional’s GE13 war chest, especially for it to take back Penang.
Similarly, Najib had also issued a personal cheque in 2013 worth RM246,000 directly to tycoon Tan Sri Lim Soon Peng to be disbursed to AD Network and Akademi Kewartawanaan dan Informasi Taima (AKIT).
The payments made to Lim were for back to back payments for AD Network who managed the “Ah Jib Gor” Facebook and AKIT which managed the Chinese Weekly publication.
