KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 5): Former AmBank managing director Cheah Tek Kuang told the High Court here on Wednesday (Oct 5) that he did see Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, at Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s personal home in Jalan Langgak Duta, when he (Cheah) went there in 2011 to help open the former prime minister’s bank accounts, but that he did not speak with the fugitive businessman.
Cheah, 75, who is the 39th prosecution witness at the 1Malaysia Development Bhd Tanore (1MDB-Tanore) trial, said while he had seen Jho Low at the house when he went to facilitate opening Najib’s bank account, he never spoke to Jho Low at the time.
“He did not talk to me and I did not talk to him at all,” he said before Justice Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah.
Cheah was answering questions from Najib’s lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, who had asked him about Jho Low’s presence at Najib’s house.
He said that when he was picked up by a driver to go to Najib’s house in 2011, he was accompanied by “two or three” other cars and they made their way to Najib’s residence.
He told the court that he was only accompanied by a driver in his car.
“When the car came to pick me up [to go to Najib's house], there were two or three other cars. They picked me up somewhere near my house.
“I did see Jho Low in the other car. I went into the house and [went] into a separate room. [Jho] Low went into a separate room,” he said.
Previously, when Cheah testified as a witness in the SRC International Sdn Bhd trial — where Najib is currently serving a 12-year jail sentence, having been found guilty of seven charges — he spoke about meeting fugitive financier Jho Low at Najib’s house when he went to open the account.
He previously said that it was Jho Low who took him into Najib’s house and introduced him to Najib.
“Once I arrived at Najib’s residence, I met with Jho Low, whom I have previously met. I was then taken into the residence by Jho Low, who introduced me to Najib, and Jho Low also informed him that I was from AmBank.
“Najib and I proceeded to the guest room, while I saw Jho Low waiting at a different part of the residence,” he told the court, according to reports from The Edge in 2019.
On Tuesday (Oct 4), Cheah testified that he had gone to facilitate the opening of Najib’s account at AmBank, as the former prime minister was due to receive US$100 million from Saudi Arabia.
Cheah said he was given the green light by AmBank chairman Tan Sri Azman Hashim, and therefore went to Najib’s Duta home to open the account.
“I then met Najib at his home and introduced myself. There were only two of us at this meeting. I had informed Najib that I brought along a cheque book for the said account, credit card documents among other documents,” he said on Tuesday.
After signing the documents, Najib had told him that US$100 million from Saudi will come into the account. Cheah said he did not ask the purpose the funds were coming in for. But Najib elaborated that it was a donation to him from Saudi Arabia, in line with “Islamic activity”.
Cheah’s encounters with tardy Jho Low
Cheah said he knew very little of Jho Low because when the latter started doing business with AmBank, Cheah was not involved.
Cheah said he had met Jho Low several times for meals but the fugitive financier had a habit of tardiness.
“Only later part, he (Jho Low) wanted to have a lunch [meeting] with me and it was arranged but he had a habit of turning up very late.
“It’s not five minutes [late]. It’s more than 5 minutes; more than half hour. I met him only two or three times,” Cheah testified.
He elaborated that these meetings had nothing to do with business dealings but rather, were meetings in social events.
Muhammad Shafee: This is before 2011?
Cheah: Can’t remember, maybe before 2011.
Cheah said that as far as he can recall, Jho Low had no dealings with the bank.
He also said that Jho Low was always late to these meetings and he grew irate at waiting for the fugitive.
“Some other times, he came very, very late. [We were] supposed to have tea or something like that. After that, any other appointment [with Jho Low], I just don’t turn up because I didn’t want to entertain such things,” he said.
Previously in the SRC trial, Cheah described Jho Low as a “liar” who was “never punctual” and would “set up an appointment at 7am but arrive at one in the afternoon”.
Najib is charged in the 1MDB-Tanore trial with four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering involving RM2.28 billion of 1MDB funds.
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