KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 8 — Businessman Low Taek Jho had claimed that Istana Negara’s concern over his role in 1Malaysia Development Berhad’s (1MDB) predecessor Terengganu Investment Authority Berhad (TIA) was merely due to a political clash between Putrajaya and Terengganu, the High Court heard today.
Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi, who was the CEO of TIA, was asked if he had asked Low on why Istana Negara was querying his role.
Quizzed by Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, Shahrol said “it was explained as a political fight” between the state and federal government by Low.
Earlier, Shafee asked Shahrol if he had realised Low’s claim to represent the Terengganu Sultan may not be “kosher” or true, following a query by Istana Negara’s representative during a TIA meeting in June 2009.
By that time, Low — who had allegedly told a previous witness that he was the Terengganu Sultan’s adviser — had already been appointed as a TIA adviser.
During the June 30, 2009 TIA meeting, the meeting minutes showed that Istana Negara representative “questioned who and what role Jho Low has”, with Istana Negara recorded as saying it was “worried that there are quarters that have misused the name of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong”. (At that time, Terengganu ruler Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin was the country’s Yang di-Pertuan Agong.)
In response, Shahrol then said the query in the June 2009 meeting took place amid a political crisis on the Terengganu mentri besar.
“If I recall correctly that was after two incidents, what I term in my witness statement as a conflict between the Terengganu state government and federal government.
“If I recall at that time also there were a lot of noises on who should be the Terengganu Mentri Besar and so leading up to that meeting my understanding was that this is really a conflict at the upper levels. And therefore, I was not surprised at that meeting when the Istana Negara representatives raised questions about Jho,” Shahrol replied.
Shafee: In view of what you answered, Jho Low was the one who brought Sultan to Abu Dhabi to see the Mubadala concept, so with that kind of relationship, didn’t you wonder what happened to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong why he is so upset that he sent a representative to question whether the claim by Jho Low was kosher?
Shahrol: People’s relationships change, so the fact that Jho was friendly with the Tuanku in Dec 2008 and their relationship soured in May is not unbelievable.
Shafee: Do you know why it soured?
Shahrol: I don’t know because that was what was implied, that Tuanku sent someone from istana to say things about Jho so I’m just following up from what you said.
Shahrol is the ninth prosecution witness against Najib in the latter’s corruption trial over 1MDB, with hearing set to resume this afternoon.
Najib’s ongoing 1MDB trial involves 25 criminal charges — four counts of abusing his position for his own financial benefit totalling almost RM2.3 billion allegedly originating from 1MDB and the resulting 21 counts of money-laundering.
