Defendant in 1MDB trial rejects accusations
Published: Tuesday, Apr 9th 2024, 18:00
Updated At: Tuesday, Apr 9th 2024, 18:01
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The Federal Criminal Court began questioning one of the two defendants, a Swiss-British financier, in the 1MDB trial on Tuesday. The real or fictitious activities of the oil company Petrosaudi were the focus of the trial.
The defendant told the court that he lived with his family in Switzerland. He had no income because he could not work in the financial sector until the end of the trial and he could not do anything else.
During the trial, the defendant, who had joined Petrosaudi in autumn 2009, emphasized the links between the company and the ruling family in Saudi Arabia. For example, 50 percent of the capital was held between Prince Turki, one of King Abdullah's sons, and the second defendant, a Swiss and Saudi national. The latter is also said to have been very well acquainted with the royal family.
When asked about Petrosaudi's activities, the businessman explained that this company had been regarded as a very reliable partner by the company where he had previously worked. Both companies had examined investment opportunities for hydrocarbon production in Latin America and Asia, the defendant said.
Although Petrosaudi was privately owned, it had access to important players in the industry due to its proximity to the state of Saudi Arabia. The man is considered to be the right-hand man of the main defendant, the head of Petrosaudi. According to the Office of the Attorney General (OAG), the two men are alleged to have embezzled 1.8 billion US dollars to the detriment of the Malaysian fund 1MDB.
Hardly any actual activities
With these statements, the defendant attempted to refute the thesis of the federal prosecutor. For them, Petrosaudi had no significant activities prior to the conclusion of the joint venture that led to the alleged embezzlement.
The Federal Criminal Court tried to understand why the partners were in such a hurry to conclude the deal between the meeting between Prince Turki and the then Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak in mid-August 2009 on the yacht Alfa Nero off the coast of Cannes and the end of September. The only explanation given was that this was in response to a request "from above".
The court president went through the e-mail correspondence between the defendant and the other participants in the negotiations with 1MDB. For some of them, the defendant invoked his weak memory, 15 years after the events.
He claimed not to have known anything about other things: "The indictment mentions many things that I have no idea about," he said.
Offense amount of 1.8 billion dollars
The head of Petrosaudi is said to have personally received 570 million and his deputy 37 million of the alleged offense amount of 1.8 billion dollars. The rest is said to have gone to other parties. The two men are mainly charged with commercial fraud, dishonest business management and serious money laundering.
The criminal court had previously rejected the objections submitted by the defense last week. In particular, the lawyers criticized the 213-page indictment peppered with footnotes and the federal prosecutor's evaluation of data stolen by a former Petrosaudi employee.
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