Ex-1MDB chairman: I saw Jho Low in Najib's office as defence minister, deputy PM; Najib spoke to me on Low's handphone

KUALA LUMPUR, April 1 — Now-fugitive Low Taek Jho was spotted in Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s office well before the latter became prime minister in April 2009, former 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) board of directors’ chairman Tan Sri Mohd Bakke Salleh confirmed today.

Bakke said this while testifying as the 13th prosecution witness in the joint trial of Najib and former 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy over the tampering of the 1MDB audit report.

Bakke previously said Low was the coordinator and representative of Najib, and that this “was the impression and representation that was made by” Low and confirmed by other individuals.

Bakke today clarified however that it was not a mere “impression” that Low — better known as Jho Low — represented Najib.

“Well, it was not just an impression, I think I met him at the former prime minister’s office when he was minister of defence, as well as when he was deputy prime minister in Putrajaya office, met Jho Low there number of occasions,” he told the High Court.

Recalling that he had told Najib that Low had asked him to help in the Terengganu state government’s setting up of 1MDB’s predecessor Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA), Bakke said the Terengganu ruler Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin had appointed him and several others to be members of the TIA’s steering committee in a tea event in early 2009.

Bakke said that after having met with the Terengganu sultan on the setting up of the TIA, he had then met with Najib at the latter’s office where the latter “repeated his point about please help TIA, work with Jho Low, work with management.” 

“So it wasn’t something that happened by chance or came out of impression, you know. It was reinforced by two leaders. One — the Agong, one the PM, that time he was deputy prime minister,” he added. At that time, the Terengganu sultan was also the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

Bakke confirmed that Low (pic) was recorded as official adviser of 1MDB’s predecessor TIA, but was never appointed as official adviser of 1MDB and held no official position in 1MDB. — Picture via Facebook

Asked by Najib’s lead defence lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, Bakke confirmed that Low was recorded as official adviser of 1MDB’s predecessor TIA, but was never appointed as official adviser of 1MDB and held no official position in 1MDB.

Shafee then suggested that the whole “nonsense about Jho Low could have been avoided”, if 1MDB’s board had asked the board of advisers chaired by Najib for advice.

But Bakke replied: “That’s a fair comment on your part, but again, the circumstances underpinning the 1MDB transaction were different, I think, because the chairman of the board of advisers was interacting closely with Jho Low.”

Bakke was referring to Najib’s role then as the chairman of 1MDB’s board of advisers in 2009. Najib was by then also the prime minister and finance minister.

Referring to how Najib had spoken to him in a phone call just as the 1MDB board was about to start its meeting on September 26, 2009 on a proposed and purported joint venture with PetroSaudi International Limited which required 1MDB to pump in US$1 billion, Bakke said: “So had the chairman of board of advisers not appeared in the scene, then I doubt very much this 1MDB transaction would happen.”

Tan Sri Mohd Bakke Salleh attends a press conference in Kuala Lumpur January 16, 2020. — Picture by Choo Choy May

Shafee then said many people would love to associate themselves and be seen with the prime minister, but argued it would only amount to an “impression” and there is a need to clarify directly with the prime minister if he is giving them the authority to give suggestions.

“Nobody ever asked the PM — Jho Low, are you authorising him or what?” Shafee said.

But Bakke said he did check with Najib himself regarding Low.

“I remember asking the former prime minister in his office - this Jho Low guy has asked me, has invited me to sit on board of TIA and asked me to help in setting up of TIA by becoming steering committee members first together with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. So I actually posed this question and he said, ‘ya, please help’. It wasn’t as though I acted on an assumption,” he said.

Bakke stressed that he did not act based on Low’s representation but he actually verified it by asking Najib.

Shafee then suggested that particular instance when Najib told Bakke to go on helping Low in TIA cannot be taken as a “licence forever to Jho Low to direct”, but Bakke pointed out that Low was the one who had passed his own handphone with then prime minister Najib on the line before the 1MDB board meeting on September 26, 2009 could start.

“I hate to repeat this, but when prime minister engages you in a telephone conversation --- a phone call made by Jho Low to him and on Jho Low’s phone I have to speak to PM, that actually drives home a very strong point, alright, would you agree with me?” Bakke said.

Shafee then replied: “My impression would be this fellow is pretty close to PM, nobody said no. So what? Just because he’s close does it mean the board takes directions from Jho Low?

Bakke: No, the board never took directions from Jho Low.

Shafee: I got your impression, if not for the phone call from PM, we would have behaved differently for the board.

Bakke: Let me clarify, the phone conversation with the former prime minister was the one that reinforced the point to me that this matter has to be looked at as a matter of urgency and seriously. It was not instructions from Jho Low, it was instructions from former prime minister.

Following that phone call, the 1MDB board on September 26, 2009 then decided to approve the proposed joint venture deal purportedly with PetroSaudi International Limited (PSI) along with certain conditions. 

The trial before High Court judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan resumes on April 12, where Bakke is expected to continue testifying.

In this trial, Najib is charged with abusing his position as prime minister and finance minister to receive self-gratification in the form of protection from civil or criminal action regarding his role in handling 1MDB’s operations, by ordering amendments in February 2016 to the auditor-general’s audit report on 1MDB before it was presented to Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee.

One of the items removed from the 1MDB audit report was mention of Low’s presence in the 1MDB board meeting on September 26, 2009.