News by Adam Aziz

This phase would entail 1MDB’s spending of another US$830 million to subscribe to notes issued by PSI’s unit, of which US$500 million is now missing, according to the prosecution in the 1MDB-Tanore trial.

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.

The prosecution team has 30 to 40 more witness statements to be submitted, alongside all related documents under section 51A of the Criminal Procedural Code (CPC) within two weeks before the trial date of Nov 18, Al-Saifi added.

Shahrol also said 1MDB was given a mandate by Najib, through Jho Low, to undertake the JV, which was deemed as a G2G initiative that "needed to be done".

Today, the trial will continue its 22nd day, with former 1MDB chief executive officer Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi — the ninth prosecution witness — due for his cross-examination for the sixth day.

This is because the letters and documents contained Shahrol's signature and not Jho Low's.

"(The prosecution was) supposed to have given us a response by today."

It should be noted that Prasarana and SMRT have not inked a joint venture agreement, originally scheduled for June 30, 2018.

According to previous witness Datuk Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin, in 2009, a representative of Istana Negara had refuted Jho Low's claim that he was an adviser of the Agong, who was then Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin of Terengganu.

On May 27, 2009, two companies linked to the fugitive financier acted as secondary subscribers to the strategic development fund's RM5 billion Islamic Medium Term Notes (IMTN) and subscribed to RM4.5 billion at a discount via AmBank.