The Malaysian Insight

THE prosecution’s ninth witness, former 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi returns to the witness stand as former prime minister Najib Razak’s trial enters its 17th day today.

Shahrol will be cross-examined by lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.

Last Tuesday, he testified that Najib played a “key role” in an RM18 billion joint-venture deal between 1MDB and Aabar Investment PJS – a subsidiary of International Petroleum Investment Co (Ipic).

The witness described the deal as Najib’s “baby” and had his “interest”.

The joint venture was to be in equal shares to invest globally, including in the Kuala Lumpur International Financial District, which was later renamed Tun Razak Exchange.

A loan of US$3 billion was later raised for the venture, with Goldman Sachs as the arranger. 

The venture’s operations, however, neither materialised nor brought income to 1MDB, Shahrol told the court.

Shahrol said in 2015, he was instructed by Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to leave the country to avoid a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearing in Parliament.

He said then 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy told him that the PMO had instructed him to travel overseas to avoid the first PAC hearing.

To face the subsequent PAC hearings, Shahrol said he was coached by PAC members, including chairman Hasan Arifin.

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. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

The 66-year-old accused is represented by a dozen lawyers led by Shafee.

Former Federal Court judge Gopal Sri Ram leads the prosecution while Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah presides.

The Malaysian Insight brings you today’s proceedings live:

4.33pm: Judge Sequerah calls it a day. The witness will return to the stand tomorrow at 9.30am.

4.30pm: Shahrol says very few people knew at the time that Low played a big role in Najib’s relationships with the Saudis and Chinese.

4.29pm: Shahrol says that as people in Umno were envious of Low’s access to and relationship with Najib, it made sense for Low to have perceived distance from 1MDB so as not to weaken Najib’s position in the party. This was in 2010.

4pm: Shahrol says if he had known that Low was misappropriating SRC International money, he would have notified the board so action could be taken.

3.22pm: Shafee is now going through energy ventures the government made in the past.

3.10pm: Shahrol says that he believed and trusted Najib and his team that this was a political attack against him and Najib, in turn, trusted his actions as 1MDB CEO.

2.55pm: Shafee asks Shahrol about a civil suit the government has taken against the 1MDB board. Shahrol says he is not worried as he is telling the truth.

Shahrol says he was only doing what he was told to in 1MDB because he was “team Najib”.

2.40pm: Court is in session. Shahrol takes the stand while Shafee continues from where he left off.

12.50pm: Shahrol says he trusted Low because the main drivers for TIA were already in place and what he observed was Low was one of those who had the trust of key players.

Court breaks for lunch.

12.35pm: Shafee asks him if the sultan, who was also the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, was impressed with Low.

Shahrol: It was a very short observation. But from the way Low was conducting himself at the palace, you can say Low had the Agong’s approval at that time.

12.31pm: Shafee suggests that TIA was never a “baby” of Najib. Shahrol agrees.

Shafee: The idea of TIA was mooted when Low took the Terengganu sultan to Abu Dhabi? Najib was nowhere on the horizon?

Shahrol: I agree but I don’t know whether Low was already talking to Najib.

Shafee puts to the witness that anyone who suggested that TIA was Najib’s idea, it would not be correct.

Shahrol agrees.

12.12pm: Shafee suggests that Goldman Sachs has been involved from before TIA’s formation.

Shahrol says it is true.

12pm: Shahrol says the fund was initially set up to create sustainable development for Terengganu, focusing on oil and gas, tourism, real estate and agriculture.

11.40am: Shahrol says at the end of 2008, Low messaged him to ask if Shahrol was interested in taking up a role at 1MDB, then Terengganu Ivesment Authority (TIA).

Shahrol: I said I’m always interested to explore but I asked is there anything that Accenture can do for the new fund. Low went quiet for a while until March 2009, when he asked me to present myself to the Terengganu royalty.

11.36am: Shafee: Didn’t you ask the MACC why you were banned?

Shahrol: I assumed it is because of 1MDB (case).

11.33am: Shahrol says shortly after the general election last year, the government had imposed a travel ban on him.

He says he has been banned for more than a year.

Shahrol says it has become a burden because it is hard for him to find employment now.

10.45am: Shahrol now details what happened when he was called in by the police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) during investigations into 1MDB.

10.38am: Shahrol says Low liked him for not being a busybody.

10.34am: Shahrol says Low articulated things very well and the quality of the discussions were quite high.

Shafee: At that time, Low didn’t show you any semblance that he was a trickster or a fraud?

Shahrol: No. Not at all.

10.31am: Shahrol says Low was always late but well-spoken and understood concepts quickly.

10.25 am: Low was the managing director of Utama Banking Group at the time.

Shahrol says: “I met him to see what he wanted. He wanted to professionalise the investment process in UBG.”

He says it involved identifying, filtering and documenting UBG’s potential investments and current investments.

Low was 26 at the time.

10.21am: Shahrol says he met Low when he was at Accenture in 2007.

He says he received an SMS from Low.

“He messaged me saying he wanted to do something with his company’s systems and asked me to drop by his office to discuss.”

He says Low got his contact from Shahrol’s Stanford roommate.

Shahrol says he met Low after the text message.

9.53am: Shahrol says he only made the minimum requirements to graduate, and did not graduate with the American equivalent of an honours degree known as “cum laude”.

He graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering.

Upon graduation, he says he was hired by Anderson consulting which later became Accenture.

9.50am: Shahrol says he went to Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.

He says at the time, Stanford was one of the top three universities in the US for Engineering but he did not do so well.

“To tell you the truth, I barely graduated,” he says.

9.44am: Shahrol says he scored A1 in Additional Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, English, Islamic Studies and Geography in his SPM examination, except Bahasa Malaysia, where he got a Credit 6.

“As with all 17-year-olds, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I liked working with my hands. I thought engineering was an interesting subject to study.

“After receiving my SPM, I was offered various scholarship to the UK and to the US,” he says. 

Shahrol says he did his pre-university education at Citrus College, Los Angeles.

9.40am: Shafee questions Shahrol over his education record.

He is asked about his performance at the Royal Military College in Sungai Besi, where Shahrol attended secondary school between 1981 and 1987.

9.37am: Court is in session. – October 7, 2019.