RULE NO 1 APPLIES: NO NAMES.
Sometimes it is useful to go back down memory lane to recall what exactly was testified in Court as reported in the media at that time. Here is some news from January 2025 - 12 months ago. (Thank you to Norman Fernandez for sending this to me).
I call this The Famous Hara Kiri Bungle. Or Seppuku. Because this testimony was prominent in the guilty judgement by the Court.
Friday, 10 Jan 2025
PUTRAJAYA, Jan 10 — He said he was unsure how a purported Saudi royal managed to get his private Islamic bank account number, but insisted that the huge sums of money he received in that personal bank account were Saudi donations.
Testifying in his money laundering trial involving RM2 billion, he continued to maintain that the money that entered his accounts were donations promised in 2010 by the late Saudi ruler. (OSTB:The Saudi ruler has died).
He said he did not ask how an alleged Saudi royal family member named “Saud Abdulaziz Majid Al Saud” (OSTB: The mysterious Arabian Knight) knew of his personal Islamic bank account number ending 1234, but confirmed this was the account that had received the purported donations.
When asked by deputy public prosecutor how this was possible since it was a personal account number, he suggested that it was possible that others had told Saud about his account.
After repeatedly being pressed to confirm he did not enquire how Saud got his account number, he finally said: “Maybe, I don’t know, maybe Jho Low told him.”
He has denied that Jho Low was his mirror image and alter ego in the scheme.
In the trial, he said he had received four letters addressed to him at his personal home address from the alleged Saudi prince Saud with promises of “gifts”. (OSTB: The mysterious Arabian Knight wrote FOUR LETTERS to his private address, promising gifts.)
The four purported donation letters are dated:
- February 1, 2011 (promising a US$100m gift),
- November 1, 2011 (US$375 million),
- March 1, 2013 (US$800 million) and
- June 1, 2014 (£50 million).
But while his Islamic account 1234 was opened on January 13, 2011, he confirmed that the first alleged donation letter dated February 1, 2011 did not state which bank account would be receiving the purported Saudi gift.
He again said he did not know how Saudi Arabia was told of his xxxx account.
Later when he had closed down his xxxx account and opened a new Islamic account with account number ending yyyy, he confirmed that a subsequent alleged Saudi donation was then sent to his new personal bank account.
But he again said he was unsure who had informed the new account number to the alleged Saudi donor, saying: “No, I did not enquire.”
But he disagreed that this meant that the alleged donation did not come from the King, saying: “I disagree, we can prove it later.”
About the original alleged donation letters and saying thank you
He said he had received the alleged Saudi donation letters from his then principal private secretary but had not asked about the source of the letters, confirming the letters only stated “Saud Abdulaziz Majid Al Saud Private Office” without Saud’s address.
(OSTB: Did his principal private secretary also handle his private mail at home? The mysterious Arabian Knight wrote those FOUR LETTERS to his private address promising over US$1.3 Billion donations but did not include his own address? Mrs Chet Singh my old English teacher who taught us how to write letters would be very upset).
He claimed he had kept the original copies of these letters at his office, but said he was unable to access these documents after he lost in 2018.
He said he does not know Saud personally. (OSTB: He did not know the mysterious Arabian Knight who wrote FOUR LETTERS to his private address promising - and then delivered - over US$1.3 BILLION in donations).
He confirmed that the first donation letter dated February 1, 2011 did not say the US$100 million would be given in stages, also confirming this letter did not state the money would come from an alleged Saudi royal family member “Prince Faisal Turki bin Bandar Al Saud” or from the latter’s Riyad Bank account. (OSTB: Another Arabian Knight)
But he insisted that two batches of US$10 million each he had received in February 2011 and June 2011 from Prince Faisal Turki’s Riyad Bank account were Saudi royal donations, based on his “assumption” that these moneys were from the King as promised.
He confirmed he had never met and does not know Prince Faisal Turki, also saying that he personally did not check if this individual was from the Saudi royal family. (OSTB: So he did not know the other Arabian Knight either despite receiving two batches of US$10 million each from him.)
Asked if he had checked if the first batch of US$10 million received was truly a promised gift, he said he assumed it was the promised donation from the King as it was sent by a Saudi royal.
“I based it on what was told by the king, I assume this is his wish, because it came from the royal family. Impossible for the royal family to send money without his wish, can’t be suddenly send money,” he said, also saying that it would not be possible for the King to personally send the money as he is a head of state.
He said he had only verbally thanked the King in a subsequent visit, but said he did not write any letter to acknowledge receiving the alleged donations or to express his thanks to the Saudi ruler. (OSTB: Later the Saudi ruler died).
He said this was because the donation matter was “sensitive” and cannot be written down, as protocol would require his letters be sent through Foreign Affairs.
He said he did not write to Saud (OSTB: The mysterious Arabian Knight he never knew or met) as he knew the source of the donations was from the King and it would be proper to thank the Saudi ruler directly, denying that his failure to write a thank you letter meant that the money did not come from the King.
As for the second alleged donation letter dated November 1, 2011 and the first batch of alleged donation of US$5 million only being received almost one year later on October 31, 2012, he said it was up to donors to decide when they would send money and he could not control this.
He said it would have been “impolite” for him to check with Saud if the money received (on Oct 31, 2012) was linked to the second donation letter (dated Nov 1, 2011 for US$375 million).
He insisted that the second alleged donation letter would have been sent on the King’s instructions, despite the letter’s omission of an early 2010 private meeting between him and the Saudi ruler where financial aid was allegedly promised to him.
He said he felt there was no need for him to check the donations, as the letter was from Saudi royalty and protocol had to be observed when dealing with the Saudi royal family.
As for the 2010 meeting, today he said three Malaysian delegation members --- were present in the same room where he had the private meeting with the King.
But he said he and the King were located further away while having the sensitive discussions, and that the Malaysian trio could not have heard what was discussed despite being in the same room. (OSTB: The King has since died so there are no witnesses).
