‘Are you a crony?’ Ex-1MDB chairman Lodin says ‘not’ in court, doesn’t even have Najib’s phone number despite knowing him for 40 years

PUTRAJAYA, March 5 — Former 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) chairman Tan Sri Che Lodin Wok Kamaruddin today denied being a “crony” of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, and insisted he still does not have the latter’s phone number.

Lodin, who has known Najib for more than 40 years, said this while testifying as the 12th defence witness in the latter’s 1MDB trial.

Asked by Najib’s lead defence lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, Lodin confirmed that he does not even have Najib’s phone number “even until today”.

Shafee: Let me get it clear, you, Tan Sri Lodin, chairman of 1MDB, never had Datuk Seri Najib, prime minister’s phone number?

Lodin: No.

Asked why he did not have Najib’s phone number, Lodin said he respected the latter as a prime minister and as a “senior person”.

He added: “But I kept myself as a professional and I would maintain communication with him through his office. So I would have the phone number of his secretary or person-in-charge, and make appointment to see him.”

Shafee: If you were to show your phone now, can you say for sure that Datuk Seri Najib’s number is not there?

Lodin: Yes.

But Shafee then asked Lodin not to worry as he would not be asking him to show his phone.

Lodin again confirmed his previous court testimony that he was not a “proxy” of Najib in 1MDB affairs.

Shafee then asked: “Are you a crony of Datuk Seri Najib?”

Lodin replied briefly with a smile: “I hope not, I’m not.”

Shafee then noted that the government has been kind to Lodin by appointing him to hold important positions as a board member, and asked if Lodin was worried that such appointments may not come his way anymore after his testimony over the past few days in court as Najib’s defence witness in the 1MDB trial.

Lodin replied: “I’m here to tell the truth about what really happened during my tenure in 1MDB, if any organisation that I’m connected to feels that is, you know, not acceptable, it’s ok with me.”

Shafee: This is the fasting month, what you testified these last few days including today, that means, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Lodin: I think Insya Allah (God willing), I told the truth, nothing but the truth.

Lodin became director of 1MDB’s predecessor Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA) on August 11, 2009, and remained a director when the company was renamed as 1MDB and changed hands to the Finance Ministry.

Lodin was 1MDB chairman from October 20, 2009 until his resignation in May 2016.

Najib was finance minister from September 2008 to May 2018, and was prime minister from April 2009 to May 2018. He had also been chairman of 1MDB’s advisory board.

The Finance Ministry owns 1MDB via the ministry’s Minister of Finance (MoF) Incorporated, and Najib had signed approvals for 1MDB’s financial decisions on behalf of the company’s shareholder MoF Inc.

Lodin in 1982 became the Armed Forces Fund Board’s (LTAT) deputy general manager and became its CEO two years later until September 2018, and also became LTAT’s Boustead Holdings Berhad’s group managing director in 1991 and deputy chairman in 2010 until he stepped down in December 2018.

Lodin previously confirmed he had official dealings with Najib – who was defence minister in two periods from 1990 to 1995, and from 2000 to 2008 – as LTAT was under the Defence Ministry. Both LTAT and Boustead had military-related contracts.

In his testimony today, Lodin said his appointment to LTAT in 1982 was with the approval of then defence minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and that it had nothing to do with Najib.

Earlier today, Shafee informed the High Court that 1MDB had written a letter to the prosecution and that this letter was also copied to his law firm, adding that 1MDB did not agree to Najib’s request to waive two ex-1MDB lawyers’ solicitor-client privilege.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib then said that 1MDB had however said this will not stop those two former lawyers from coming to testify in court in the 1MDB trial, and that these two would continue to be bound by the solicitor-client privilege.

Senior Assistant Commissioner Rajagopal Ramadhass, who was principal assistant director of Bukit Aman’s corporate and financial crimes investigation until his retirement in April 2013, this afternoon testified as the 11th defence witness in Najib’s 1MDB trial.

The 1MDB trial before judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah resumes next Monday.