Ex-1MDB chief says controlled by Jho Low ‘to a certain extent’
Mohd Hazem Abd Rahman says he and former chief financial officer Azmi Tahir had carried out Jho Low’s instructions during a meeting with accounting firm KPMG Malaysia in 2013.
(MalaysiaNow) – A former 1MDB CEO admitted at the High Court yesterday that he was, to a certain extent, under the control of fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho or Jho Low.
Mohd Hazem Abd Rahman, 49, conceded to a suggestion posed by lawyer Mardhiyah Siraj that he and former 1MDB chief financial officer Azmi Tahir were under the control of Jho Low as they had carried out his instructions during a meeting with an accounting firm, KPMG Malaysia in 2013.
“To a certain extent, yes,” said Mohd Hazem when cross-examined by Mardhiyah, who is representing Najib Razak in the former prime minister’s trial over the misappropriation of RM2.3 billion in funds from 1MDB.
Mardhiyah, in her line of questioning, was referring to a paragraph from Hazem’s witness statement where he said Jho Low had emailed him, Azmi, and former 1MDB executive director Terence Geh a “briefing package” before the 2013 meeting.
The “briefing package” had contained an explanation from Jho Low which emphasised the answers to the issues raised by KPMG and the strategies needed to be followed by the representatives on 1MDB during the meeting.
