Continuation of the questioning of the first defendant in the 1MDB trial
Published: Wednesday, Apr 10th 2024, 12:51
Updated At: Wednesday, Apr 10th 2024, 12:51
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The Federal Criminal Court has continued the questioning of the first defendant in the 1MDB trial. The Swiss-British national is charged with fraud, mismanagement and money laundering.
His lawyer questioned him about his activities prior to his employment at Petrosaudi. He went into detail about the contacts he had with people in oil circles and in particular with his later employer.
Petrosaudi has stepped up its efforts to unblock the situation around the Serdar III oil field. This offshore oil field was the subject of a border conflict between Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan.
Petrosaudi contributed the production rights to Serdar III to the joint venture with the Malaysian state fund 1MDB, even though the company did not hold them. According to the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (BA), the state fund 1MDB is said to have suffered losses of around 1.8 billion as a result of the actions of the two defendants.
Indictment partially read
As on the previous day, the defendant was not very forthcoming about the financial aspects of the relationship between Petrosaudi and the state fund 1MDB.
The 40-year-old defendant was unable to explain payments, some of which amounted to several hundred million. He presented himself as an executor who passed on orders without knowing the background.
On the other hand, he detailed the transactions of the two oil production vessels acquired by the joint venture between Petrosaudi and 1MDB. He also recalled that he had received a bonus of 4 million dollars for the purchase of one of these ships.
One of the judges was annoyed by the defendant's selective memory and asked him: "Did you bother to read the indictment?" The defendant admitted that he had only done so "partially".
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