00:01Former 1MDB Chief Executive Officer Datuk Shahrol Azrael Ibrahim Halmi told the Kuala
00:08Lumpur High Court on Thursday that he believed fugitive businessman Joe Lowe's information
00:13about a proposed US$2.5 billion joint venture signing ceremony between 1MDB and Petra Saudi
00:21International Limited due to early communication with the Prime Minister's office in 2009.
00:27The 56-year-old witness of the plaintiff's team in the US$5.64 billion suit filed by 1MDB
00:35said there had been initial communication with former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's
00:41then Special Officer Datuk Amhari Effendi Nazaruddin during preparations for the proposed ceremony.
00:48Shahrol Azrael said this gave him reason to believe the ceremony would take place,
00:52although he acknowledged he did not pursue the matter further and had no documentation confirming
00:57it. Najib's lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafi Abdullah questioned Shahrol Azrael about the information
01:04he received from Lowe. Shahrol Azrael agreed that the information about the signing ceremony came
01:10from Lowe and that he had taken it as true. When Shahfi asked Shahrol Azrael whether he knew
01:16that Amhari was among those confirmed to have received money from Lowe, he said he had no
01:21knowledge. In Najib's separate 1MDB criminal trial, the court was told that the signing ceremony never
01:27took place, despite it being cited as the reason for the deal being made hastily.
01:321MDB and its four subsidiaries filed the civil suit in May 2021, naming Najib former 1MDB Finance
01:41Director Terence Gay, former Executive Director Casey Tang, former General Counsel Jasmine Liu,
01:47and four others as defendants. 1MDB later dropped its suit against former Chief Financial Officer
01:54Radhi Mohamed, with no liberty to refile, and had previously removed Lowe from the case.
02:00The plaintiffs accused the defendants of breach of trust, breach of statutory duty,
02:05abuse of power and conspiracy, to misappropriate 1MDB funds.
02:10The trial continues in March next year.
