KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 26 (NNN-BERNAMA) — PetroSaudi International Limited (PSI) was very disappointed and dissatisfied when the amount of the additional loan they requested from the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) has been reduced from US$330 million to US$205 million, the High court was told today.
Former 1MDB chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi, 49, in reading his witness statement, said fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho or Jho Low had told him that the PSI was very disappointed and dissatisfied with the matter.
“Jho Low said, “they complained to daddy” which means that Prince Turki bin Abdullah (a PSI representative) has informed King Abdullah (father).
“I was also informed by Jho Low that there has been talk between Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and King Abdullah on the issue as the US$330 million has already been agreed prior.
“I then had to comply and ordered the final tranche of US$125 million to PSI,” he said during examination-in-chief by senior deputy public prosecutor Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram at the 14th day of Najib’s 1MDB trial.
Shahrol Azral said he had reduced the amount from US$330 million to US$205 million on May 27, 2011 after receiving feedback from 1MDB chief financial officer (CFO) Radhi Mohamad that 1MDB did not have enough fund to meet PSI demand.
“I discussed this issue with Jho Low and he asked me to send a letter to PSI,” he said.
The ninth prosecution witness told the court that 1MDB had made four payment transactions, namely, on May 20, 2011 (US$30 million), May 23, 2011 (US$65 million), May 27, 2011 (US$110 million) and Oct 25, 2011 (US$125) million).
Earlier, Shahrol Azral said Tarek Obaid (PSI co-founder and CEO) had written a letter to Najib on Feb 18, 2011, requesting for an additional US$750 million loan to inject the existing investment funds.
However, the prosecution’s key witness said after a meeting with 1MDB board of directors (BOD) on April 4, 2011, he told Jho Low that 1MDB did not have the funds to invest US$750 million in overseas projects and subsequently sought Jho Low’s assistance in negotiating with PSI to delay or reduce the amount of they requested.
Shahrol Azral said following discussions held from April to May 2011 between him and Jho Low, the PSI agreed to reduce the draw down request from PSI-1MDB JVCo (JVCo) to US$330 million on May 12, 2011.
Najib, 66, faces four counts of using his position to obtain RM2.3 billion in 1MDB funds and 21 counts of money laundering involving the same amount of money.
The Pekan MP was charged with four counts of corruption at the AmIslamic Bank Berhad Branch, Jalan Chulan, Bukit Ceylon here between Feb 24, 2011 and Dec 19, 2014 while all the money laundering offences were alleged to have been committed between March 22, 2013 and Aug 30, 2013, at the same place.
The hearing is before Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah.
–NNN-BERNAMA
