{"id":15735,"date":"2022-12-08T19:52:36","date_gmt":"2022-12-08T11:52:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/?p=15735"},"modified":"2022-12-08T19:52:38","modified_gmt":"2022-12-08T11:52:38","slug":"no-inappropriate-relationship-with-jho-low-but-more-to-friendship-ex-banker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/?p=15735","title":{"rendered":"No inappropriate relationship with Jho Low, but more to friendship &#8211; Ex-banker"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 8<\/strong> &#8212; A former AmBank relationship manager who handled accounts belonging to former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak today admitted at the High Court here that she had a close working relationship and friendship with fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho or Jho Low.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Joanna Yu Ging Ping, 51, said Jho Low would often invite her for meetings at his apartment at Jalan Kia Peng, together with several of his close associates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The ex-banker said this when cross-examined by Najib\u2019s lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah at the former premier\u2019s corruption and money laundering trial involving RM2.3 billion belonging to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 41st prosecution witness said that she was introduced to Jho Low by her superior\u00a0Chan Wan Seong at Jho Low\u2019s office at the Petronas Twin Towers in 2007.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Joanna-Yu-Jho-low.webp\" alt=\"relationship\" class=\"wp-image-15736\" width=\"509\" height=\"318\" srcset=\"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Joanna-Yu-Jho-low.webp 800w, https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Joanna-Yu-Jho-low-300x188.webp 300w, https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Joanna-Yu-Jho-low-768x480.webp 768w, https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Joanna-Yu-Jho-low-160x100.webp 160w, https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Joanna-Yu-Jho-low-350x219.webp 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 509px) 100vw, 509px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p><em>&#8220;The meetings were mainly about Majestic Masterpiece Sdn Bhd\u2019s loan,\u201d<\/em> she said, adding that Jho Low had\u00a0a\u00a0habit of calling bankers to come and meet him at his apartment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Majestic Masterpiece was owned by Wynton Private Equity Group and Abu Dhabi Kuwait Malaysia Investment Corporation (ADKMIC). Jho Low was one of the directors of Wynton Private Equity Group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When asked by Muhammad Shafee if she was&nbsp;alone with Jho Low at any point of time, the witness said usually several officials from 1MDB and Jho Low\u2019s cronies would be there (during meetings).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yu also admitted that she had meetings with Jho Low after her office hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Muhammad Shafee: You developed your relationship with Jho Low, I mean, as a banker and friend? Yu&nbsp;replied \u201cyes\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Muhammad Shafee: I\u2019m not suggesting that you had an inappropriate relationship with Jho Low, but you had a close relationship with him, am I correct? Yu&nbsp;answered \u201cyes\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Muhammad Shafee then moved on to question Yu\u00a0if she had gone to Brazil to watch the World Cup. The witness said, <em>\u201cI have never been to Brazil.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Muhammad Shafee: Did you know Jho Low took a team of people to watch the World Cup?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yu: I only know from the newspaper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Najib, 69, is facing four charges of using his position to get bribes totalling RM2.3 billion from 1MDB funds and 21 charges of money laundering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The trial before Judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues on&nbsp;Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/\">NMT<\/a> as reported by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bernama.com\/en\/crime_courts\/news.php?id=2146112\">Bernama<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 8 &#8212; A former AmBank relationship manager who handled accounts belonging to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10893,21,524],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-courts","category-crime","category-nation"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Joanna-Yu-Jho-low.webp",800,500,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Joanna-Yu-Jho-low-150x150.webp",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Joanna-Yu-Jho-low-300x188.webp",300,188,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Joanna-Yu-Jho-low-768x480.webp",640,400,true],"large":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Joanna-Yu-Jho-low.webp",640,400,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Joanna-Yu-Jho-low.webp",800,500,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Joanna-Yu-Jho-low.webp",800,500,false],"newsium-slider-full":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Joanna-Yu-Jho-low.webp",800,500,false],"newsium-featured":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Joanna-Yu-Jho-low.webp",800,500,false],"newsium-medium":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Joanna-Yu-Jho-low.webp",720,450,false]},"author_info":{"info":["Editor"]},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/?cat=10893\" rel=\"category\">Courts<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/?cat=21\" rel=\"category\">Crime<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/?cat=524\" rel=\"category\">Nation<\/a>","tag_info":"Nation","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15735"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15735\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15737,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15735\/revisions\/15737"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}