Tuesday, 01 Oct 2019 08:26 AM MYTFormer 1MDB chief executive officer Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi arrives at the Kuala Lumpur Courts Complex September 24, 2019. ― Picture by Hari Anggara
Based on Shahrol’s testimony in the High Court in Najib’s corruption trial, elements that repeatedly popped up in the account of how 1MDB lost the US$1.367 billion that it had borrowed include: the pressure to be quick with the deals given the supposed veneer of their being government-to-government deals and Najib’s alleged approval for the related financial decisions.Shahrol claimed Najib purportedly wanted 1MDB to be a major IPP like France’s EDF.
Following the takeover deal’s financial adviser Goldman Sachs’ advice, 1MDB took on RM11.4 billion more debt: namely a RM6.17 billion loan from Maybank and RHB Bank, and by issuing US$1.75 billion of bonds through 1MDB’s Labuan-based offshore company 1MDB Energy Limited that was guaranteed by Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Company .
Shahrol said he confidently signed the agreement as it used the correct office address for Aabar which is in a government building in Abu Dhabi, noting that the short form for the company used in the deal was only “Aabar Investments.” “However, I was not suspicious and did not question it because at the time I believed it was something already agreed by Najib and IPIC based on the action plans and discussions I had with Jho Low,’’ he said.
It was only after 1MDB investigations that Shahrol said he discovered that this security deposit was “arranged by Jho Low to enable 1MDB funds to go into accounts controlled by him for the purposes of misappropriation.”It was only after 1MDB investigations that Shahrol said he discovered Jho Low had enabled 1MDB funds to go into accounts controlled by him for the purposes of misappropriation.
Shahrol again signed on with the purported IPIC subsidiary as he said its name did not have very significant differences with the real Aabar’s name. On Day One of Najib’s ongoing corruption trial involving 1MDB funds, the prosecution had said these two IPP takeover deals by 1MDB subsidiaries represent the second phase of an elaborate scheme which allegedly resulted in money being diverted to Najib.
Shahrol suggested the short time given for 1MDB deals to be pushed through may have led to his unsuspecting signing of money away to the fake Aabar. — Reuters pic
Now it's Jho Low fault? U as ex CEO have no Fault? Did u leave your Brain at home when u transferred such huge amount of monies without doing detailed verification whom the monies be sent to?