The Malaysian Insight

FORMER 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) chief executive officer Mohd Hazem Abdul Rahman said not a single sen from the irregular 1MDB payments went into his bank account.

He told the Kuala Lumpur High Court today that he did not benefit from any of the alleged illegal transactions, when re-examined by ad hoc prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram.

Sri Ram: You were asked about the irregular payments that went out of 1MDB, did one sen of that money go into your account?

Hazem: No.

Sri Ram: Did you financially benefit in any way from any of those transactions?

Hazem: No.

Hazem is the 10th prosecution witness in the trial of former prime minister Najib Razak, who is in the dock for 25 charges of power abuse and money laundering involving 1MDB funds amounting to RM2.28 billion, allegedly deposited into the latter’s AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014. Najib faces up to 20 years’ jail if convicted.

Hazem joined 1MDB as chief operating officer in August 2012 and was made CEO from March 2013 to January 2015.

He claimed that the RM45 million from Vista Equity International Partners Ltd (Barbados) – a company owned and controlled by Eric Tan – transferred to an AmIslamic Bank account is not his, but Najib’s.

The transfer was done in five tranches between October 23, 2014 and December 19, 2014.

He claimed that another RM4 million from Blackrock Commodities (Global) Ltd – also controlled by Tan – was transferred to Najib’s account on June 23, 2014.

The RM49 million originated from bank loans taken by 1MDB from Deutsche Bank, which later flowed from one entity to another.

Sri Ram: Do you confirm to His Lordship that… a total of RM49 million went into this bank account (Najib’s)?

Hazem: Correct, yes.

Sri Ram: It was suggested to you that Tan was Jho Low’s (Low Taek Jho) proxy?

Hazem: Yes.

Sri Ram: Why did you deal with Tan?

Hazem: I never dealt with Tan.

The witness also denied acting in conspiracy with Low or receiving any money from the fugitive businessman, as the defence has contended.

Sri Ram: When you had the meeting at the accused’s house when Low was present, what was your observation on the relationship between the accused and Low?

Hazem: It was very, very close.

Sri Ram was referring to a 1MDB meeting on November 28, 2013 ahead of the 1MDB-KPMG International Ltd meet.

The witness said during that time, Najib did not “say or did anything to dissociate himself from Low”.

He also told the court that the Pekan MP pressured him to change KPMG as 1MDB’s auditor.

Sri Ram: Why did you ask for KPMG to be removed?

Hazem: KPMG did not want to close it (1MDB’s account) and (I was) being directly pressured by the (then) prime minister to find a way to solve it.

The only way to solve it was to replace the firm with a new auditor, he added.

Sri Ram: The pressure came from whom?

Hazem: I was directly called by the (then) prime minister, who asked about the update on the closure of the audit.

Sri Ram: At that time, were you in a position to disobey the accused?

Hazem: No, absolutely not.

1MDB replaced KPMG with Deloitte, following the former’s refusal to sign off on its audit of 1MDB’s 2013 financial statements.

The trial resumes tomorrow at 9am, with former 1MDB chief financial officer Azmi Tahir continuing his testimony. – November 15, 2021.