KUALA LUMPUR: A sum of US$8.99mil received by Blackstone Asia Real Estate Partners Ltd , a company believed to be linked to fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho a.k.a Jho Low, was kickbacks for an investment made by Aabar-SRC into Mongolia's Gobi Coal & Energy Ltd , the High Court heard.
Aabar-SRC is a joint venture between SRC International's subsidiary, SRC BVI, and Aabar UAE of Abu Dhabi.Barkhouse said the US$8.99mil payment to Blackstone was made from an HSBC Hong Kong account from GCE, with payment reference stated as"COMMISSION". The court had earlier heard from the witness that GCE, despite the investments it received from SRC BVI, had never produced coal on a commercial basis or generated any revenue from mining operations.