The Malaysian Insight

FORMER prime minister Najib Razak contemplated taking action against The Edge after the newspaper carried several reports attacking 1Malaysia Development Berhad over its acquisition of power plants and initial public offering (IPO) plans, the Kuala Lumpur High Court heard today.

Former 1MDB chief financial officer Azmi Tahir, who is the 12th prosecution witness in Najib’s RM2.3 billion 1MDB corruption trial, told the court he had to compile and research the negative news reports.

He was then told to take those articles to Najib who was then in the Middle East.

Azmi said it was fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho who told him, via Blackberry messenger, to meet Najib in the Middle East.

“I was told by Low to go because there was going to be a discussion with Najib about The Edge. The company (1MDB) was being attacked by The Edge,” he said.

“There was a series of what we considered negative articles questioning our acquisition of power plants, the initial public offering plans and things in reference to Najib and 1MDB.”

Although he cannot recall if the meeting happened in Dubai or Abu Dhabi, Azmi said Low gave him the location of the hotel and the date.

He also did not state the year of the alleged event.

Azmi said when he arrived at the hotel, he bumped into Najib’s late principal private secretary, Azlin Alias, who was curious about Azmi’s appearance.

Azmi then continued to follow Low’s direction to Najib’s suite.

“I waited (outside) for a few minutes. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I told Jho Low and immediately the (suite) door opened,” Azmi said.

He waited again as Najib was out for a function.

“He came back with a few others. I think I remembered Wan Ahmad Shihab Wan Ismail, an officer in the prime minister’s office,” he said.

“It wasn’t a very long interaction because I was told I could leave and they carried on with the meeting.

“He (Najib) was trying to come to a decision on whether to take action against The Edge over those attacks.”

The witness said he was unsure of Najib’s decision afterwards.

In 2015, it was reported that the Home Ministry suspended the publishing permit of The Edge Weekly and The Edge Financial Daily for three months from July 27.

The ministry’s letter stated that the two publications’ reporting of 1MDB were “prejudicial or likely to be prejudicial to public order, security or likely to alarm public opinion or is likely to be prejudicial to public and national interest”.

Senior deputy public prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram asked Azmi today if he observed Najib took great interest in the 1MDB affairs while he was the chief financial officer.

“Yes. The meeting with the auditors was significant for the prime minister of a country,” said Azmi.

“I was very grateful because there was a problem to be solved and he agreed to meet.”

He was referring to the 1MDB meeting with audit firm KPMG, which he had told the court this week.

Najib, 68, is facing 25 charges of abuse of power and money laundering more than RM2.28 billion in 1MDB funds deposited in his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.

The Pekan MP faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

The trial will resume next month before High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah. – November 18, 2021.