MACC denies Jho Low used money in Najib’s personal accounts

A senior officer of the Malaysian AntiCorruption Commission (MACC) yesterday refuted claims that fugitive businessmen Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low had personally used money that was deposited into the accounts of former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

MACC Senior Assistant Commissioner (Special Operations Division) Rosli Husain, 54, said his investigation found that Jho Low had no interest over the RM170 million belonging to SRC International Sdn Bhd that were in Najib personal accounts at AmIslamic Bank.

He said this when crossexamined by Najib’s lawyer, Harvinderjit Singh, on the 56th day trial of Najib over alleged misappropriation of RM42 million in SRC funds.

Harvinderjit: Did you investigate on the RM170 million that was withdrawn from SRC in August and then deposited into Putra Perdana Development (PPD) Sdn Bhd? Rosli: Yes, I did. Questioned by Harvinderjit if the money was used to purchase PPD shares in Iskandar Holdings Co Ltd, in which Jho Low had an interest, Rosli said he did not know.

However, Rosli disagreed with Harvinderjit, who said efforts were made by Jho Low to ensure there were always funds in Najib’s accounts (not overdrawn).

The 57th prosecution witness also denied not conducting an intensive investigation on Jho Low’s involvement in the alleged misappropriation of SRC funds and asserted that his investigation showed the businessman had no interest in the money.

Rosli said from his investigation, it was found that Jho Low had no interest in the SRC funds.

Harvinderjit: I suggest that the conversation log referred to in this trial showed that the person who misappropriated SRC funds was Jho Low. Rosli: I disagree. Harvinderjit: I suggest that this conversation log showed that Jho Low did not make any attempt to inform Najib of the transactions in his (Najib) three personal accounts?

Rosli: I do not agree.

The conversation log was the log extracted from a Blackberry device between three Ambank relationship managers -- Joanna Yu, Krystle Yap and Daniel Lee - with Jho Low when the MACC raided the bank on July 6, 2015.

The witness also disagreed with Harvinderjit, who suggested that Jho Low controlled the Putra Perdana Construction Sdn Bhd account and the withdrawals from SRC’s account were made through its chief executive officer and company secretary, Jerome Lee and Terence Geh, respectively.

He also said that Jho Low was not responsible for transferring money from the account of 1Malaysia People’s Foundation (YR1M) into Najib’s personal account through its former chief executive officer Ung Su Ling.

The witness also told the court that during the investigation period, he did not find any direct communication between Najib, Jho Low and Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, who is former SRC chief executive officer.

The hearing before judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali continues. - Bernama