PUTRAJAYA, Feb 24 — Then 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) chairman Tan Sri Mohd Bakke Salleh took Low Taek Jho’s handphone to speak to then prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak before a 2009 board meeting on a US$1 billion joint venture deal, the High Court heard today.
Former 1MDB director Tan Sri Lodin Wok Kamaruddin said this while testifying as the 12th defence witness in Najib’s trial involving 1MDB’s RM2 billion that allegedly entered the former prime minister’s private AmIslamic bank accounts.
Lodin was speaking about the moments before the Sept 26, 2009 meeting to discuss and decide whether the Finance Ministry-owned company should sign a deal for a US$1 billion joint venture with PetroSaudi International (PSI) Limited.
Asked about the controversial incident where Najib spoke to Bakke via Low’s phone, Lodin confirmed he recalled Jho Low passing his phone to Bakke before this September 2009 meeting.
Asked by Najib’s defence lawyer Wan Azwan Aiman Wan Fakhruddin how Bakke had reacted when Low passed his phone to him during the meeting, Lodin replied: “Tan Sri Bakke merely accepted the phone”.
“After receiving the phone, Tan Sri Bakke went outside the room and later informed the board that he had just spoken with the prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
“He conveyed that the prime minister was aware of the joint venture discussions and emphasised the importance of making a decision efficiently,” the 75-year-old said.
But Lodin said the 1MDB board went on to assess the terms of the proposed US$1 billion joint venture and considered various factors before making a decision.
Lodin was then asked if he as a 1MDB board member had felt Najib had instructed or directed him to speed up the decision on the joint venture.
Lodin replied: “My understanding was for the board to carefully evaluate the proposal and ensure that it aligned with 1MDB’s objectives, which we did when we imposed certain pre-conditions, including the prior valuation of the PSI’s assets.”
Earlier, Wan Azwan Aiman asked: “If Jho Low had passed his phone to you instead of Tan Sri Bakke, would you have found it unusual? If so, why?”
Lodin replied: “Yes, because I had never met Jho Low before.”
Lodin said he had met Low for the first time at this September 26, 2009 board meeting, also saying that the 1MDB management had invited Low to attend this meeting.
Lodin said the 1MDB board was told that Low — better known as Jho Low — was representing Saudi Arabia’s royal family.
But Low’s attendance was brief and he did not participate in the 1MDB board meeting, and left shortly after conveying the Saudi royal family’s greetings, he said.
Lodin said all 1MDB board directors were present at this meeting.
In the same 1MDB trial, Bakke had previously as the 13th prosecution witness said Low had used his phone to call Najib, and Low then passed the phone while saying “PM on the line, want to speak to you”.
Bakke said Najib had in the phone call asked the 1MDB board to quickly firm up a decision on the US$1 billion deal and expressed urgency, and the 1MDB board then agreed in its meeting to approve the deal with four conditions.
In the 1MDB trial, Najib in his own defence previously denied that his phone conversation with Bakke was meant to pressure the 1MDB board into approving the US$1 billion deal.
Najib also claimed he had chosen to speak to Bakke via Low’s phone instead of calling Bakke directly, as it was convenient.
The prosecution had previously said in this trial that it would prove that US$20 million (over RM60 million), from 1MDB’s US$1 billion joint venture deal had ended up in Najib’s personal bank account.
Among other things, Lodin said he believed he was not constrained or limited in his decision-making power as an 1MDB board member, despite Najib holding the three positions then as prime minister, finance minister and 1MDB advisory board’s chairman.
“As I said earlier, we acted as a board, and we based our decision mostly on reports, recommendations by management, by consultants, so therefore I think whatever decisions we made were done very professionally.
“And there shouldn’t be any constraint on the part of the board in terms of making decisions, just because the shareholder is the prime minister or finance minister and chairman of advisory board, because we believe what we did and what we decided on was for the good of the group, as well as for the good of the government and the country,” Lodin said.
Lodin was referring to 1MDB’s shareholder Minister of Finance Incorporated (MoF Inc), for which Najib was the signatory as the finance minister at the time.
But Lodin said he did not consider 1MDB shareholder resolutions — which Najib had signed — to be approvals by the prime minister under 1MDB’s company constitution’s Article 117, as he said those approvals were given by MoF Inc as 1MDB’s shareholder.
Among other things, Article 117 requires the prime minister’s prior written approval for any financial commitments by 1MDB, including investments or other matters relating to government guarantees, “national interests, national security or government policies”, with the Malaysian government to make the final decision on what amounts to national interests, national security and national policies.
Earlier, Lodin said he was never told that Low was supposedly a proxy for Najib.
Lodin said he himself did not make any arrangement or had any understanding with Najib to be the latter’s proxy on the board of Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA), which later became 1MDB.
Najib’s 1MDB trial before trial judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah resumes tomorrow morning.
