Najib: I never made any meals for Jho Low when he visited my house; but here’s why I trusted this ‘slightly pudgy young man’
Najib said he trusted Jho Low who projected a compelling image of being a “highly capable and well-connected individual” with ties to Malaysian royalty and the royal families of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
Thursday, 05 Dec 2024 12:40 PM MYT
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 5 — Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today said he had never made any food for the “slightly pudgy young man” Low Taek Jho – the Malaysian fugitive better known as Jho Low and alleged to be his “mirror image” and alter ego in 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) matters.
Najib today confirmed that Low had gone to his city house at Jalan Langgak Duta here in the past, but sought to clarify their relationship.
“While I do not deny that on certain occasions Jho Low was present at my residence in Langgak Duta, it is important to understand the context of my interactions with him during that time,” he said while testifying in his own defence at the 1MDB trial in which he is charged with misappropriating RM2 billion from the sovereign investment fund.
Najib was explaining why he had placed his confidence and trust in Low, whom he said projected a compelling image of being a “highly capable and well-connected individual” with ties to Malaysian royalty and the royal families of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
“Unfortunately, my trust in Jho Low has been exploited, and I am now being falsely implicated as complicit in his wrongdoing simply because of his presence at my residence and the purported close connection with me – something which was over-sensationalised particularly since Datuk Shahrol, 1MDB’s CEO, himself had visited Jho Low at his residence, so did Jasmine Loo and Joanna Yu too.”
Najib was referring to 1MDB’s former CEO Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi, 1MDB’s then in-house lawyer Jasmine Loo and AmBank’s then relationship manager Joanna Yu who was in charge of handling Najib’s AmIslamic private bank accounts.
“For the record I never prepared any meals for Jho Low!” Najib said.
MORE TO COME
Official business is conducted in the office, especially one as powerful as then PM Najib.
ReplyDeleteThat he conducted business at his private residence confirms Najib had private business with Jho Low shrouded with secrecy.