News by Adam Aziz

Shahrol said the reason for this communication method — records of which Shahrol has deleted — was because Jho Low once told him: "We don't know who we can trust, we need to protect the boss [Najib], keep it secure."

Former 1MDB chief executive officer Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi: It became a problem when Najib became the sole shareholder in 1MDB and there were a lot of 'dengki' (envy) [among people within Umno] over Jho Low's influence and access to Datuk Seri Najib.

Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi concedes before the High Court today that the beleaguered state-owned fund was not the ‘baby’ of Datuk Seri Najib Razak as its inception was not mooted by the former prime minister.

Najib’s lead attorney Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah is expected to conduct the cross-examination, which may extend until next week.

While the charges against Zahrah and Abdulazeez were read separately, Justice Azura, however, allowed the application by deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Allan Suman Pillai for a joint trial.

This comprised "RM80,000 plus" in monthly salary amounting to over RM960,000 for the year, an 18-month bonus of more than RM1.44 million, plus an annual allowance of RM179,000 for sitting on the board of directors of the beleaguered state-owned fund.

"... But these cheques were never meant to be encashed and were never encashed ..."

It has been reported that the collaboration led to questionable bond arrangements for 1MDB’s power assset acquisitions that badly affected 1MDB but rewarded Goldman Sachs with hefty fees.

“Jho Low responded that it was a ‘good idea’,” said Sharol.

The minutes was for a purported meeting between Shahrol and Najib in his capacity as chairman of 1MDB's board of advisers (BoA). However, Shahrol told the High Court that he never attended the meeting.