Ex-banker who handled Najib's accounts offered soup to Jho Low, court heard

KUALA LUMPUR: A former AmBank relationship manager who handled accounts belonging to former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak today admitted in the High Court here that she had offered soup to fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho or Jho Low.

Joanna Yu Ging Ping, 51, said this when Najib's lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah asked the 41st prosecution witness about her Blackberry Messenger (BBM) messages to Jho Low.

Muhammad Shafee: You were close with Jho Low? Yu: Yes, he was my client.

Muhammad Shafee: He became more than your client - a close friend? Yu replied, "We won't call them enemies ... We call them friends. We deal with them in a friendly manner."

Muhammad Shafee then asked the witness about her attendances at Jho Low's apartment, to which Yu said she had been to Jho Low's house to ask for payment from Jho Low for his other loans.

"Loan payments were overdue, when asked for payment, he had never been in town and never wanted to meet. So, I took the opportunity to ask if Jho Low was in town and asked him to pay the amount in default; most of the time, he wouldn't want to meet because we would ask for repayment," said Yu.

Muhammad Shafee: There was a time, Jho Low was sick and you cooked (soup) for him?

Yu answered, "I did suggest, if you want, I can make some soup for you (Jho Low). But I didn't cook. If somebody is sick, we would offer."

To this, Muhammad Shafee joked, "No bank has ever offered me that, and I live opposite my bank."

"Maybe it is my motherly instinct. I had no intention. I would assist anyone," said the witness.

At this juncture, Judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah asked Muhammad Shafee what the objective of this question (about the soup) was.

Muhammad Shafee said the objective was that, "some of this was allowed to happen because there was no objective assessment."

The lawyer then asked the witness again, "You allowed yourself to be so close to him, that you lost objectivity? To this, Yu replied "no."

Last Thursday, the witness testified that she had a close working relationship and friendship with Jho Low but there was nothing inappropriate.

Najib, 69, is facing four charges of using his position to get bribes totalling RM2.3 billion from 1MDB funds and 21 charges of money laundering.

The trial continues tomorrow.

-- BERNAMA