KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 3 — Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today said he was not sure when Malaysian fugitive Low Taek Jho had obtained his personal mobile phone number, but said he had got to know the latter through his stepson.

Referring to Low as Jho Low, Najib told the High Court that many Malaysians would have his number too.

"I am not entirely certain when Jho Low obtained my personal mobile phone number.

"However, I became acquainted with him through my stepson, Riza Aziz, who knew Jho Low’s younger brother, Taek Szen, from their time together in London and specifically at the London School of Economics (LSE). This family connection likely facilitated Jho Low’s access to my contact information.

"At the same time many Malaysians would also have my personal mobile numbers. This I must say is the Malaysian political culture, not just with me but also true of previous prime ministers and other ministers,” he said while testifying as the first defence witness in his 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) trial.

But Najib also claimed it was untrue that Low had "unimpeded access” to him, and that his phone would often not be in his own possession but would be with one of his assistants.

Among other things, Najib said Low was not representing 1MDB’s interests, but was representing PetroSaudi International, "the Saudis, and he also had very good relations with the United Arab Emirates and to some extent with the Kuwaitis as well.”

"He always portrayed himself as having a very special relationship with them,” he told his lead defence lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, but added that Low did not claim to have an interest in those Middle Eastern entities.

At one point, Najib said he had at his office in Putrajaya or at his Langgak Duta residence met with Low in early September 2009.

Najib said this meeting was a brief one lasting about 15 minutes as he had a demanding workload, and said he had decided to accommodate Low’s unscheduled meeting as he was told that Low had an important matter to discuss regarding Saudi Arabia and had a message from Saudi ruler King Abdullah.

"I agreed to accommodate him, as Jho Low indeed had strong connections with the Saudi royal family, and I felt it was important not to overlook a message of this nature,” he said, saying he granted this unscheduled appointment as it was important and urgent.

Najib said Low had shared a message purportedly directly from King Abdullah, with Low saying that the Saudi ruler wanted to strengthen diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Malaysia and viewed the potential joint venture between 1MDB and PetroSaudi as a stepping stone towards the two nations’ strategic bilateral cooperation.

Later on, Najib also said Low had well-established connections with Middle Eastern royalty and observed that the latter had cultivated significant trust within these circles.

"Jho Low had informed me when he was earlier introduced to me that his connections with the Middle Eastern ruling family members were through his old days network at Harrow and in the US through Wharton Business School,” he said, referring to Low’s Harrow schooling in London.

Najib highlighted Low’s role in facilitating Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala’s US$500 million investment in the Iskandar project in Malaysia in 2008, saying: "This was real and not a scam.”

"For someone of his age, I believe he was only 26 years old at the time, securing Mubadala’s participation in such a major Malaysian initiative was exceptional and highlighted the substantial trust he had cultivated with influential figures in the Middle East,” he said.