Najib glances at his watch during a court hearing. Bernama Photo
KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court yesterday heard that former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak was gifted an expensive-looking watch by PetroSaudi International Limited (PSI) co-founder and chief executive officer Tarek Obaid.
Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi, the former chief executive officer of state-owned sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), said this during the 14th day of the 1MDB corruption trial against Najib, 66.
Answering a question posed by senior deputy public prosecutor and former federal court judge Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram, on what type of watch Najib had received, the ninth prosecution witness replied “not familiar but it looked expensive”.
Shahrol Azral, 49, said Najib was presented with the watch when attending a meeting with PSI at the Four Seasons hotel in London on May 16, 2011, with 1MDB then chairman Tan Sri Che Lodin Wok Kamaruddin, PSI director, Patrick Mahony, and fugitive businessman Jho Low (formally known as Low Taek Jho), also present.
The witness told the court that while in London, the group attended two other meetings comprising a 1MDB board meeting at the Hilton hotel and a PSI-1MDB board lunch meeting at PSI’s office.
He added that after many months of discussions between 1MDB and PSI, it was finally agreed that 1MDB investments in PSI, in the form of a ‘Murabaha’ note, would be transformed into equity holdings in a PSI subsidiary, PetroSaudi Oil Services (PSOSL), with 1MDB purchasing 49 per cent of PSOSL shares through the change of the note, which was worth about USD 2.222 billion.
The aim of the change was to ensure that 1MDB initial investments into PSI totalling US$1,830 million, could be repatriated in phases, for use in other 1MDB projects.
Najib, who was represented by Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, faces four charges of abusing his position to obtain gratification amounting to RM2.3 billion of 1MDB funds and 21 money laundering charges involving the same amount.
The Pekan MP is alleged to have committed the first four offences at the Jalan Raja Chulan branch of AmIslamic Bank Berhad between Feb 24, 2011 and Dec 19, 2014, while the money laundering was committed between March 22 and Aug 30, 2013 at the same location.
Hearing before judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah, continues on Monday. — Bernama