KUALA LUMPUR: Irish band U2 lead vocalist Bono, Louis Vuitton chief executive Bernard Jean Étienne Arnault and Queen Rania of Jordan were among proposed personalities to be members of the Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA) foundation board.
This was revealed to the High Court by Datuk Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin, former special officer to Datuk Seri Najib Razak, at the latter’s trial involving misappropriation of RM2.3 billion funds from 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) formerly known as TIA.
Amhari, 43, who was the eighth witness, said the names were provided by fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho or Jho Low in a note which was brought to him and his superior - Najib’s former principal private secretary, the late Datuk Azlin Alias' attention.
He said this when he was shown a letter by TIA CEO Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi dated May 4, 2009, addressed to the then Prime Minister/Minister of Finance in relation to the setting up of TIA.
He was being cross-examined by Najib’s lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.
Shafee: Do you know how these names came about?
Amhari: Jho Low provided the names in one of the notes to Azlin and me in a meeting at Prince Hotel.
Shafee: Do you know if it came true?
Amhari: I am not sure.
Shafee: I am suggesting to you these names were thrown by Jho Low to impress the Federal government and Terengganu government?
Amhari: I don’t know.
Shafee: Most of the personalities did not even know their names were quoted?
Amhari: I don’t know.
Shafee: Do you know about the list (of names).
Amhari: I can only remember Bernard Arnault because of the brand he carries.
Shafee: Did it cross your mind what Louis Vuitton is doing in TIA?
Amhari: It did not cross my mind.
The witness also said he did not know and it had not crossed his mind that this was a con job by Low.
The court also heard that it was not Najib who suggested for TIA’s name to be changed.
Amhari confirmed that the suggestion for the name change came from Shahrol.
He also agreed that based on a letter by Shahrol to Najib dated June 25, 2009, Shahrol had initially chose MDB as the new name for TIA.
“Shahrol suggested for TIA to be changed and at that time the name MDB had been chosen minus the ‘1’,” he said.
Hearing continues before judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah tomorrow.
Najib, 66, is facing four charges of having used his position to obtain gratification totalling RM2.3 billion in 1MDB funds and 21 counts of money laundering involving the same money.