KUALA LUMPUR – Jasmine Loo, the prosecution’s star witness in Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) corruption trial, has said that she does not know about the status of criminal charges brought against her six years ago.
Loo denied insinuations by Najib’s lead defence counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah that she had struck a deal with the prosecution or the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) during cross-examination in the high court here today.
During today’s cross-examination, she told Shafee she did not know of updates on her case as she had instructed her lawyers to “deal with it”.
In 2018, Loo was charged in absentia with two counts of money laundering, totalling US$6 million – which were alleged to have been 1MDB funds deposited into her Swiss bank accounts.
She was quick to deny Shafee’s questions, which suggested that she may have struck a deal with the authorities in exchange for her testimony against Najib.
She also denied the lawyer’s suggestions that she is on “talking terms” with the authorities. Loo said she only commented with MACC and the prosecution with regards to investigations into 1MDB.
Shafee: You are saying (that) you were never bothered to speak to MACC, or the prosecution or any enforcement agency, about your pending case, where you were charged in absentia?
Loo: No, I’ve left it to my lawyers.
Shafee: Did you instruct your lawyers to find out and negotiate about this?
Loo: No, I just asked them to deal with this, and I was going to attend to the investigators.
Shafee: Have you appeared in court ever since you arrived (in Malaysia)? Do you know the status of this case?
Loo: No, but I would be prepared to defend it.
Shafee: No – that’s not my point! The point is, that you do not know what has happened to your case.
Loo: It is beyond my control.
Loo also testified today that she last communicated with wanted rogue financier Low Taek Jho (Jho Low), the alleged mastermind behind the 1MDB scandal, in March last year.
In these communications, she repeatedly tried to find out Low’s whereabouts to no avail.
Loo, who fled to Thailand and hid there for five years after the 1MDB scandal made news headlines, was arrested in July last year upon her return to Malaysia.
Najib is facing four charges of using his position to obtain an alleged RM2.3 billion bribe from 1MDB funds, as well as 21 charges of money laundering involving the same amount.
The trial before judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah adjourned for the day and will continue on April 1. – March 15, 2024