Kuala Lumpur: Former 1MDB general counsel Loo Ai Swan, better known as Jasmine Loo, told Najib Razak’s 1MDB trial today that statements made about her by former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner were untrue.
Loo said she only knew today about the comments Leissner made about her when testifying at former banker-colleague Roger Ng’s corruption trial in Brooklyn, New York.
Asked by defence counsel Shafee Abdullah about Leissner’s claim that she was the “number one henchman” of Low Taek Jho or Jho Low, Loo said: “That was his (Leissner’s) opinion. It is not true.”
Loo also denied a claim by Leissner that she was “not happy” about a sum of money she was supposed to receive in a Credit Suisse bank account.
She said that all projects undertaken by 1MDB required Najib’s endorsement as he was a shareholder in 1MDB by virtue of being the finance minister and chairman of the company’s board of advisors.
Loo, who joined 1MDB in 2011, also said that during her tenure with the company, it was the “practice” to seek Najib’s approval for all company projects.
Shafee: Didn’t (that practice) relegate all the directors into oblivion?
Loo: That was the practice.
Shafee: Was it your job to make sure that he (Najib) was signing a document in his capacity as the prime minister, finance minister or shareholder?
Loo: In substance, it was the same person (Najib).
The hearing continues before Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah.
Najib is facing 25 counts of money laundering and abuse of power over alleged 1MDB funds amounting to RM2.28 billion deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.
