Malaysia had plan for China 1MDB bailout

Malaysia’s former leader, Najib Razak, approved a plan to bail out troubled state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) by offering stakes in several big infrastructure projects to Chinese firms in 2016, a former aide told a court on Wednesday.

Najib, who was voted out of power in 2018 amid public anger over alleged graft at 1MDB, is on trial for allegedly receiving hundreds of millions of dollars from the state fund he set up in 2009. He has pleaded not guilty.

Former special officer Amhari Effendi Nazaruddin said Najib sent him to China in 2016 on a “secret mission” to reaffirm economic ties and investments between the countries.

The talking points prepared for his meeting with Chinese officials showed there were plans to use Chinese investments to help pay off the debts of 1MDB and its former unit, SRC International, Amhari told the Kuala Lumpur high court.

“The phrase ‘while simultaneously completely resolving 1MDB and SRC debts’ clearly meant Najib intended to send the message that this co-operation would aid 1MDB and SRC International through the bailout of 1MDB’s debts,” Amhari said.

China has denied reports that its officials had offered to bail out 1MDB, saying it never attaches political conditions to its cooperation with other countries.

Amhari said among the deals offered to Chinese companies to fund the bailout were two pipeline projects and the $20bn East Coast Rail Link (ECRL), a major part of China’s Belt and Road initiative.

The pipeline projects were later cancelled and the cost of the railway project nearly halved to $11bn after Mahathir Mohamad took over as prime minister in 2018.

Mahathir, who reopened probes into 1MDB, has said investigators are looking into whether a $2.3bn loan from the Export-Import Bank of China for the two pipeline projects was used to repay 1MDB debts.

China Communications Construction, the lead contractor for the ECRL project, did not respond to a request for comment on Amhari’s testimony.

Amhari said his talking points were prepared by fugitive Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, who attended the meeting with Chinese officials as a translator.

Low, who faces charges in the US and Malaysia over his alleged central role in the 1MDB scandal, has denied wrongdoing. His whereabouts is unknown.

“In summary, based on the situation that had unfolded and the documents prepared by Jho Low, I believe that Najib had knowledge and had given the mandate to Jho Low to plan and manage efforts to bail out 1MDB and SRC from its losses and debts,” Amhari said.

The trial continues.