KUALA LUMPUR: Former 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) general counsel Jasmine Loo Ai Swan said she was unaware of the business association between former Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz's husband and Low Taek Jho.
The former lawyer, however, confirmed that the rogue financier had name-dropped Zeti by saying that he would "take care" of the latter, implying a level of influence or connection between them.
She said this under cross-examination by defence counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah in Datuk Seri Najib Razak's corruption trial for misappropriating millions of 1MDB funds at the High Court today.
Shafee previously suggested that Low had a close relationship with Zeti's husband Datuk Tawfiq Ayman as they both attended the prestigious Wharton Business School in the United States.
The senior lawyer even suggested that Low used to cook pasta at Zeti's house near Bukit Tunku on the weekends, a claim that Zeti refuted when she testified in the same trial on Aug 15, last year.
Zeti also reiterated that none of her family members received money linked to 1MDB and revealed that Tawfiq himself, in a letter, had alerted the Singapore authorities about dubious funds that had flowed into his company's account – Cutting Edge Industries Ltd.
It was reported that Tawfiq was alleged to have received bribes as part of a deal so that Malaysia's central bank would approve an "overnight" foreign exchange transfer of US$1 billion (RM4.9 billion) from 1MDB to PetroSaudi International (PSI) that Zeti was said to have greenlit.
He has denied accepting bribes from former employees of Goldman Sachs as reported in the ongoing US corruption trial of the investment bank's former Malaysian head Roger Ng who has been linked to the misappropriation of funds from 1MDB.
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) announced in November last year that Singapore had repatriated to Malaysia US$15.4 million in 1MDB-linked funds that involved a company co-owned by Tawfiq.
Najib, 70, is facing four charges of using his position to obtain bribes totalling RM2.3 billion from 1MDB funds and 21 charges of money laundering involving the same amount.
The trial before presiding judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues.