The Malaysian Insight

FORMER prime minister Najib Razak met former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Craig Blankfein in November 2009 to court the investment bank’s support for 1MDB’s ventures, a witness told the high court today.

Former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi testified that Najib, who was also finance minister, was then in New York to meet investors.

Shahrol joined a government entourage that included former 1MDB chairman Che Lodin Wok Kamarudin. Awaiting them in New York was 1MDB intermediary Low Taek Jho, commonly known as Jho Low.

The next day, on November 22, 2009, the group attended a meeting between Najib and Blankfein, held at the Four Seasons Hotel.

Najib is on trial for four counts of power abuse to enrich himself with RM2.3 billion from 1MDB and 21 counts of laundering the same amount.

“Jho Low and Tim Leissner (then Goldman Sachs Asia CEO) were the matchmakers for the meet up,” said Shahrol during his examination-in-chief this afternoon.

“I could see at the time that Jho Low and Tim Leissner were very close, based on their body language and the tone of their conversation.”

Among the topics discussed between Najib and Blankfein were possible collaborations between 1MDB and Goldman Sachs to get foreign investment into 1MDB’s areas of interest, such as real estate, energy sector, tourism and agriculture.  

Shahrol said Najib requested Blankfein to “support and consult” 1MDB’s investments due to Goldman Sach’s expertise in finance and investment.

“The prime minister was asking Goldman Sachs for its commitment to 1MDB. After the meeting, my confidence on any financial deals involving Goldman Sachs soared.”

It was during the meeting that Low proposed hiring Goldman Sachs as the financial adviser for 1MDB’s financial and investment matters.

“I thought it was done with the prime minister’s knowledge… I accepted the proposal in good faith because a meeting at the highest levels had just been carried out.”

Senior deputy public prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram then questioned Shahrol on what Low did in the meeting room.

Sri Ram: You travelled to New York on Jho Low’s request. Did the accused (Najib) appear surprised you were at the New York meeting?

Shahrol: No, he wasn’t.

Sri Ram: From what you observed, what was Najib’s and Jho Low’s body language?

Shahrol: At that meeting, Jho Low was seated quite far back from Najib. Najib was seated with Lloyd. Jho Low was hovering in the background at the other end of the room.

Sri Ram: Did the accused have a personal conversation with Jho Low?

Shahrol: I didn’t see. I don’t remember the sequence of (events at) the meeting. Lodin and I were ushered, and Najib and the Goldman Sachs people were already there.

Sri Ram: When you walked into the room, Jho Low was already there with the accused?

Shahrol: I can’t remember. I remember we (Lodin and I) were waiting outside the room. I don’t remember if Jho Low was with us, or if he was with the Goldman people or already in the room with Najib.

Sri Ram: You said that after the meeting, the Goldman Sachs people left. Who left first?

Shahrol: Lodin and I left first. Jho Low, the Goldman Sachs people and Najib were still in the room.

Shahrol said the area of interest is the energy – especially the independent power producer (IPP) sector. The following year, Shahrol said he wrote a letter to the Najib to propose investing in the IPP sector.  

Blankfein stepped down in 2018. His successor, David Solomon, apologised in Januaryv this year to Malaysians over the bank’s role in the 1MDB scandal.

“It’s very clear that the people of Malaysia were defrauded by many individuals, including the highest members of the prior government,” Solomon said.

Najib is represented by a dozen lawyers led by Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.

Sri Ram, a former Federal Court judge, is leading the prosecution before Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah. – September 26, 2019.