1MDB-Tanore Trial Day 31: Court failed to follow longer trial hours on first day of implementation

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 6): The 1Malaysia Development Bhd-Tanore (1MDB-Tanore) trial yesterday ended early at 4:50pm, instead of the originally scheduled 6pm, as lead defence counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah requested to leave earlier to attend the Sultan Azlan Shah law lecture.

The extended period of trial, from 9:30am to 6pm, is scheduled to last until Nov 14, to make up for former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak taking one day of medical leave due to his swollen eyes.

Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah was assured yesterday by Shafee, that the trial will begin to adhere to the extended schedule from today onwards.

Yesterday, the Court was told that PetroSaudi International Ltd has has accumulated "around US$2.2 billion" in debt to 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) as of 2015.

Prosecution witness Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi said of the total, 1MDB had recovered "hundreds of millions" but could not confirm the exact amount.

"Some of them were repatriated in the low hundreds of millions. Majority of them were stuck in fund units. By that time, I had left 1MDB management," said the former 1MDB chief executive officer.

During the cross-examination, Shafee asked Shahrol on the US$500 million loan from 1MDB to PSI, which was addressed to joint venture (JV) company 1MDB-PetroSaudi Ltd, registered in the British Virgin Islands.

It is worth noting that at this point, 1MDB had already relinquished its equity stake in the JV company — initially valued at US$1 billion — as it had converted its shares into Murabaha notes under a financing scheme. However, the JV company still uses the name 1MDB-PetroSaudi.

After the disbursement of the loan, Shahrol said that PSI had only paid the first interest/profit payment back to 1MDB, amounting to about RM129 million in cash.

PSI never made any repayment back to 1MDB from the second year onwards in accordance with the repayment structure based on the agreement.

Shafee pointed out that there was no documentary evidence to show that there was a due diligence undertaken by 1MDB prior to signing the loan facility agreement for PSI, to which Shahrol agreed.

Shafee went on to allude that Shahrol himself was involved in the conspiracy to hasten the agreement so that PSI, and by extension fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, would get the money as soon as possible.

In the 1MDB-Tanore trial, Najib faces four charges for using his position to obtain bribes totalling RM2.3 billion from 1MDB funds and 21 charges of money laundering involving RM4.3 billion.

The Edge is reporting the proceedings of the 1MDB-Tanore trial live.

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