KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court today halted a line of questioning taken up by lawyer Shafee Abdullah, after Najib Razak’s lead counsel suggested that a prosecution witness had been engaged in an intimate personal relationship with fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low.
This followed an objection raised by deputy public prosecutor Deepa Nair Thevaharan that Shafee’s questions touched on former AmBank relationship manager Joanna Yu’s personal life.
Shafee had earlier questioned why Yu had attended a late-night meeting with Low at his apartment.
Yu told the court she needed to see him on work-related matters as Low was free during the night.
She also insisted that other individuals, including former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi and then 1MDB executive director Geh Choh Heng, were present with her at the meeting.
She said she had never visited Low for personal reasons.
Having heard testimony that Yu is married, Shafee asked whether her husband “minded” that she went out late at night to meet with Low.
“It is inappropriate to ask her this question,” said Deepa.
Shafee then explained that the defence wanted to show the court that Yu and Low were in an “inappropriate relationship”, as evidenced by their late-night meeting.
“Don’t take it further than that,” trial judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah told Shafee.
Jho Low referred to as ‘boss’
Yu testified that Low was commonly referred to as “boss” by then 1MDB investment director Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, who was mandated by Najib to manage his accounts with AmBank.
She said that in one of her texts, she asked Nik Faisal: “Are you with boss?”, which was intended to refer to Low.
RM5 million cheque was for Umno’s benefit
During re-examination by deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib, Yu said she and Low discussed a RM5 million cheque Najib was to issue some time in August 2014.
“(Low) informed me that there would be a RM5 million cheque to be issued to Umno, and I replied to him at 1am that I would make preparations (the following morning) to ensure the account had enough money,” she said.
Akram: The money that was paid to whose benefit?
Yu: Umno.
Najib is facing 25 counts of money laundering and abuse of power over alleged 1MDB funds amounting to RM2.28 billion deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.
The hearing continues.