This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on April 15, 2024 - April 21, 2024

PERCEIVED to be in the ­“inner circle” of fugitive financier Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) in the heist of billions of dollars from 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), the state-owned company’s former general counsel Jasmine Loo Ai Swan recently recalled life on the run. Conditions were uncertain, even precarious as she was “taken” by the military in Myanmar on one occasion and passed off as a local as she traversed Indochina and China borders.

Out of Jho Low’s close-knit group who either absconded just before or soon after the 2018 general election in May, Loo is one of the few who returned to tell the tale of her years in the “wilderness”.

While on the run for about five years, the 50-year-old had an Interpol Red Notice against her even as she negotiated with the US Department of Justice and domestic charges loomed over her in relation to her role in the global 1MDB scam.

Loo concluded her testimony in early April after testifying as the 50th prosecution witness in the trial of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is charged with abuse of power and money laundering.

Loo’s testimony of her time on the run was delivered in bits and pieces and her account of her time in Myanmar came about only when Najib’s lead counsel Tan Sri Mohamed Shafee Abdullah pressed her to reveal the details of the “troubles” she faced in the country.

Loo testified that she entered Myanmar in 2019 and remained there till 2023. Upon her arrival, she was escorted by the country’s military. She recounted that she was in Yangon while she was negotiating a deal with Malaysia. The former lawyer also denied that she was held under house arrest and insisted that she was free to move around the capital during her stay there.

She testified that she tried to enter Myanmar with her Malaysian passport, but it was not stamped upon her arrival and soon after, she was given another travel document arranged by Jho Low to reflect that she was a Myanmar local and had entered the country legally.

“I was going to enter Myanmar legally but it (my passport) was not stamped then I was ‘taken’ by the Myanmar military. It was a situation foisted on me,” she testified.

She revealed that while in Myanmar she began negotiating her return to Malaysia in 2021, through letters of representation sent to the Malaysian government by her lawyers.

Although she did not deny that she was a close associate of Jho Low, she said many media reports about her were “not all correct”, but she did not elaborate which parts were incorrect. She repeatedly denied working hand in glove with Jho Low to execute the scam or that she was cooperating with the authorities to escape prosecution.

Shafee: I’m also putting it to you when the [1MDB] matter became big, everyone ran helter shelter. You and Jho Low kept in touch with the gang. He continued to support (you) not just financially but [with his] influence to not keep you from [being] detained [...] also arranged to go in [Myanmar] without passport stamped?

Loo: I don’t agree.

Shafee: [Your] passport was not stamped so Malaysian authorities would [not] have detected you.

Loo: I disagree.

On the stand in late February, Loo testified that she was in Thailand from about April 2018 to September that year and was later “moved” to neighbouring Cambodia. In addition to these countries, she was also in China.

She added that Jho Low had warned her not to “spoil” his negotiation plans and feared consequences if she went against him. She had testified previously that her associate had threatened to make her life a living hell if she went against his instructions. Jho Low had also given her funds - delivered through various people - from time to time to support her.

Monies recovered and taxes negotiated

Loo denied the defence’s assertions that she negotiated a deal with the prosecution to drop existing charges against her in exchange for unfavourable testimony against Najib. The prosecution’s 50th witness faces money laundering charges as well as charges under the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007 - charges levelled against her in absentia in late 2018.

Loo said since her return to Kuala Lumpur, she has responded to the various authorities over the charges, including the Securities Commission Malaysia.

She testified that River Dee International SA, a company she controlled had received about US$15 million of 1MDB funds, which have been forfeited to the US government as part of a consent judgment reached between the US and her.

Loo described the company, of which she was the authorised signatory, as akin to a joint venture where monies were collected by different companies for investment purposes.

“[It was] controlled by me but because of the investment agreement, I regarded myself as the trustee of monies in the account,” she testified.

Maintaining that she had no idea the funds that made their way to her accounts were 1MDB monies, Loo insisted that these funds have been returned to the authorities. This includes assets purchased with the funds, which constitute an apartment near Harrods, the British luxury department store, and a US$4.5 million New York apartment, both purchased in 2014.

Among assets returned to authorities were a Picasso painting worth US$1.5 million, which was bought for investment purposes. Also returned were luxury handbags and watches, including items from Chanel, Hermès, Mulberry, Richard Mille and Harry Winston.

Last September, the police said Loo had helped identify assets worth over RM93.2 million purchased using 1MDB monies.

She is still being investigated by other agencies over 1MDB. She also confirmed that she has since reassessed her income with the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) and is currently paying back taxes on all the excess income.

She testified that she began negotiations with IRB in 2020 and 2021 before she returned to Malaysia and that the negotiations involved a sum of RM2.5 million.

When asked if she had any suspicions about the source of the funds transferred to her, Loo maintained that she had no reason to believe these monies were part of a scam because Jho Low had already made his money through his previous company UBG Bhd.

“Jho Low was already rich. He owned UBG Bhd. He made his millions. He was already a wealthy man. And after that he claimed that he had businesses and was managing funds for [middle-eastern personalities],” she said.

Over the course of her time on the stand, the lawyer and Shafee had a number of testy exchanges, one or two of which prompted presiding judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah to remind Shafee that Loo was not the individual on trial in this matter.

Loo is believed to be the last prosecution witness but there are still a handful of other witnesses - including former central bank governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz - who are to be crossed and re-examined before the prosecution wraps up its case.

Now into its sixth year, the trial is set to continue on April 22 and for the first time will extend into Saturday as Sequerah attempts to bring the long-running case to a conclusion. 

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