TIA a RM2 firm asking for RM5 bln govt guarantee, says ex-CEO

KUALA LUMPUR: The Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA) Berhad which later became 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) was a company that only had RM2 paid-up capital when it asked the federal government to guarantee a RM5 billion borrowing, the High Court heard yesterday.

In the ongoing corruption trial against Datuk Seri Najib Razak, prosecution witness Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi said he only joined TIA and was appointed to be TIA’s CEO on March 23, 2009 — almost a month a er the company was set up.

Shahrol said he was not involved in the early stages of TIA’s formation but had researched on the company by reading up on its background and asking those within the company.

“From the research that I carried out, I found that TIA was established on February 27, 2009 with start-up capital of RM2,” Shahrol said.

Shahrol noted that TIA’s adviser Low Taek Jho or Jho Low had told him that the idea to set up the company was allegedly initiated together with Terengganu ruler Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin, and that Low had said that TIA was intended to be a sovereign wealth fund like Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala.

A er joining TIA, Shahrol said Low as the company’s fund-raising adviser and TIA executive director Casey Tang had informed him of the plan for the company to get the federal government’s guarantee for RM5 billion to be raised by the company, while also having the Terengganu government inject a planned separate sum of RM6 billion through oil royalties.

Shahrol had yesterday also spoke of how Najib and Low had close ties to each other.

He will continue testifying today, which will also be the 12th day of Najib’s trial before High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah.

Najib’s ongoing 1MDB trial involves 25 criminal charges — four counts of abusing his position for his own financial benefit totalling almost RM2.3 billion allegedly originating from 1MDB and the resulting 21 counts of money-laundering.