KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 10): The 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB)-Tanore criminal trial of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak enters its 19th day, as former 1MDB chief executive officer Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi continues his cross-examination as the ninth prosecution witness.

The cross-examination by Najib’s lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah is still revolving around the early days of 1MDB in 2009, when the state-owned fund bulldozed the issuance of RM5 billion bonds prior to its first business venture with Abu Dhabi-based PetroSaudi Ltd.

Already the bonds — issued at a discount — saw the involvement of fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, as two companies linked to him had bought a sizeable chunk the bonds at a discount and sold it to Malaysian fund management firms at a premium to gain RM494 million.

The bank involved was AmBank, which helped 1MDB sell the bonds to the two companies, and also helped the two companies re-sell the bonds to EPF, Socso and insurance companies with local operations — all in a day.

Shahrol agreed with the suggestion by Shafee that AmBank, which was the lead arranger for the bonds, did not inform 1MDB that the Jho Low-linked companies were the first subscribers.

Shahrol also said that AmBank explained to 1MDB that the reason the bonds were sold at a discount was to ensure full subscription, considering poor investor appetite at the time.

Considering the bond flip was done under the nose of 1MDB and Shahrol by Low Taek Jho — an adviser of 1MDB (then Terengganu Investment Authority) — Shahrol had agreed that there was a possibility that Najib could have been led on by Jho Low as well in other occasions.

Najib, who was prime minister and finance minister, is facing 25 counts of money laundering and abuse of power for the alleged embezzlement of billions of ringgit in 1MDB funds, some of which supposedly arrived into Najib’s account through companies linked to Jho Low.