KUALA LUMPUR: Fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, was the one behind the infamous letter purportedly sent by Saudi royalty for a purported donation to then-prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, the High Court heard today.
Former 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) general counsel Jasmine Loo Ai Swan said the rogue financier had instructed one of his close associates, the late Kee Kok Thiam, to draft the letter in 2015.
"Between 2013 and 2014, Low informed me that there was one private account for Najib opened to received donations from Saudi Arabia.
"In 2015, while I was in London, Low asked me to meet him in the business centre room at the Mayfair Hotel.
"When I arrived at the room, I saw Kee, Datuk Shamsul from Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd, and Dennis See were also there.
"Shamsul was asking Low about the solution regarding the issue of the money received in Najib's account, which was said to be from Putrajaya Perdana and SRC International Bhd.
"Shamsul mentioned that various parties had started to inquire about Najib's account, where the inflow of money into it was said to be funds from 1MDB," she said.
Loo said this when testifying in Najib's corruption trial for misappropriating millions of 1MDB funds before presiding judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah.
She said Low then directed Kee to prepare a confirmation letter from Prince Saud (Prince Saud Abdulaziz Al-Saud) to declare that the funds deposited into Najib's account were donation from Saudi Arabia.
"I briefly stepped out with Low to discuss other matters and when I came back (into the room), I saw Kee preparing a draft of the donation letter from Prince Saud."
The prosecution then produced one of the four letters dated June 1, 2014, for Loo to verify as the letter she was talking about, to which she said it was.
However, Loo said she had never seen the remaining three letters and did not have any knowledge about it.
Najib's defence team had introduced the letter to prove their contention that millions remitted into the former prime minister's personal bank account was a donation from the Saudi monarchy.
Kee, a key suspect in the corruption scandal, died of a stroke on May 29, last year.
He had been deported from Macau for overstaying and arrested upon his arrival in Malaysia at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport Terminal 2 (KLIA2) in May last year.
He had divulged to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission that Low was in Macau, as were fellow 1MDB fugitives and suspects Eric Tan Kim Loong, Casey Tang Keng Chee, Geh Choh Heng and Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil.