1MDB trial: Jasmine Loo says was in Thailand, Cambodia, China, Myanmar since 2018 after warned by Jho Low to not spoil his plans

Malay Mail

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 28 — Former 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) in-house lawyer Jasmine Loo today said she had moved about from Thailand to Cambodia, China and Myanmar from 2018 onwards until she returned to Malaysia in July 2023, as fugitive Low Taek Jho had warned her to stay away from Malaysia to avoid upsetting his “plans”.

The 50-year-old Loo said this while testifying as the 50th prosecution witness in former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s trial over the misappropriation of 1MDB’s RM2.27 billion at the High Court here, and stressed that she was under threat from Low — better known as Jho Low.

Loo said she was already outside of Malaysia at the time of the 14th general election (GE14) in 2018, and that she was in Thailand at that time for a few months until possibly September 2018 and said “after that I was moved to Cambodia”.

Asked by Najib’s lead defence lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah on who had moved her from Thailand to Cambodia, Loo replied: “Jho Low warned me that basically that he, basically, he asked me not to spoil his plans, in the sense he was negotiating with the new government and he asked me to move in the interim to another place.

“Because Thailand, something was happening in Thailand, which he did not explain. I felt that if I didn’t follow his instructions, there might be consequences,” she said today in the witness stand.

Following GE14 in May 2018, the coalition Pakatan Harapan took over as the new federal government from the coalition Barisan Nasional.

Apart from these two countries, Loo said she also went to Myanmar and went once to China, adding that she was in Hainan, China before she was moved to Shenzhen.

Loo clarified however that the last time she met Low was in China in 2017 at the latter’s request, where Low had wanted to ask her if a project involving a shopping mall could be done.

Asked by Shafee how she had survived financially during the years she disappeared or absconded from Malaysia, Loo said she had “nominal” funds to survive on, noting: “Jho would arrange for some monies like a few thousand US dollars for every nine to 10 months just to pay for my necessities.”

At one point, Shafee suggested that Loo could have chosen to return to Malaysia, but she replied: “I do not see how I could have returned to Malaysia safely.”

When Shafee asked why she was unable to return to Malaysia if she had not done anything wrong, Loo said: “I believe at that time, because of Jho’s warning, he would take drastic actions if we did not follow his instructions. I was worried of again, in the case of Justo, for example, something was very clear in my mind, that could have possibly happened to me if I was taken in detention at any point.”

Shafee said that former PetroSaudi International employee-turned-1MDB whistleblower Xavier Andre Justo’s case was different as it involved leaking of documents and alleged extortion of money and asked if she was doing or about to do something similar, but Loo said: “No, I was about to return home to testify, to give testimony or subject myself to investigations.”

Loo confirmed that she believed she was “under threat” from Low from 2018, and said Low communicated with her directly.

As for what threat Low had used, Loo said: “It was both a mixture, he warned me there would be reprisals if I returned to Malaysia and at the same time, he promised he would solve things as he was negotiating with the government, don’t spoil his plans.

“If I did, there would be consequences, there would be action. I didn’t know what they were, but I felt the threat strongly that he could do anything to me, because I was not in Malaysia at that time,” she said.

She agreed that Low is capable of exercising threats and violence, adding: “Or at least I felt he could have taken those measures” and also added that she felt threatened “to a certain extent”.

When asked why would she feel threatened if she had not done anything wrong, Loo said: “It is not about whether I had done anything wrong or not, it was just about returning home safely to Malaysia. Didn’t want to risk my life returning to Malaysia even if I didn’t do anything wrong, again in the sense of Justo, he was asked to falsely confess. So I did not want those kind of things happening to me.”

Shafee: Right, did you feel you have done anything wrong?

Loo: No. No, I don’t think so.