1MDB director Casey Tang gave ‘okay’ to sign JV agreement with PSI impostor, says ex-1MDB CEO

KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 16): 1MDB chief executive officer Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi admitted to inking a joint venture (JV) agreement between 1MDB and an impostor JV partner in 2009, despite noticing the inconsistencies in the name, on the advice of fellow 1MDB director Casey Tang.

At the 1MDB-Tanore trial today, Shahrol, who is the ninth prosecution witness, recalled the JV agreement inked between 1MDB and PetroSaudi Holdings (Cayman) Ltd to form a joint venture company, 1MDB PetroSaudi Ltd.

It has been established in court that the intended JV partner was supposed to be Saudi-based PetroSaudi International Ltd (PSI) — a company that was not formed in the Cayman Islands.

The dupe JV agreement, inked on Sept 28, 2009, eventually resulted in 1MDB diverting US$700 million to Good Star Ltd, a company belonging to fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low.

Earlier today, Shahrol testified in the High Court that he had noticed the difference in the JV partner's name in the agreement prior to signing it.

When asked by lead defence counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah why he proceeded to put his signature, Shahrol said that “Casey [Tang] said it was okay for me (Shahrol) to sign” the agreement.

Tang was then the 1MDB executive director of investment, and was the person in charge of the PSI JV.

He, like Shahrol and several other people holding top managerial role in 1MDB at the time, was recommended to the position by Jho Low.

“He was the one who said that nothing was wrong with this,” said Shahrol.

Shafee, who is representing former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak as the defendant in the trial, also questioned why Shahrol did not seek the written response from 1MDB’s legal adviser Wong & Partners to his enquiry about the inconsistency in the names.

Shahrol replied that “Casey was working [along] with Wong & Partners” at the time — referring to how Casey Tang engineered 1MDB’s half of the JV with the help of the legal firm.

It should be pointed out that Shahrol has testified that Wong & Partners, too, was appointed as 1MDB’s legal adviser on Jho Low’s recommendation.

Prior to this, Shahrol has said in his witness statement that “I had zero doubt with the name PetroSaudi Holdings (Cayman) Ltd which was different from PSI because [the agreement] was prepared by expert officials in 1MDB with the help of renowned lawyers”.

“In hindsight, I would have asked Wong & Partners to give me something in writing,” he told the High Court today.

The witness was 1MDB CEO from 2009 to 2013, during which 1MDB undertook numerous dubious business deals that saw the company lose billions through embezzlement, and paid hundreds of millions in exorbitant fees and charges imposed for the services it had taken.

Najib, who was prime minister, the finance minister and chairman of the 1MDB board of advisers at that time, is currently facing 25 criminal charges for alleged embezzlement of billions of ringgit in 1MDB funds. The trial continues.

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