PROSECUTION witness, former Terengganu Investment Fund (TIA) secretary Lim Poh Seng, annoyed defence counsel during former prime minister Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) trial today with his inability to remember facts during cross-examination.

Najib’s counsel, Wan Aizuddin Wan Mohammed, was irked by Lim’s repeated answers that he could not remember most details. 

Lim is the prosecution’s 18th witness in the trial against Najib for misappropriating RM2.28 billion in 1MDB funds.

Najib faces 25 charges – four for abuse of power and 21 for money laundering – for offences committed between 2011 and 2013.

Lim, 48, was the secretary for TIA from 2008 to 2011. 

During cross-examination, Wan Aizuddin sighed multiple times when Lim did not answer his questions satisfactorily. 

Wan Aizuddin: Can you tell the court how did your acquaintance with Low Taek Jho start? 

Lim: He approached to render some corporate services to some companies he recommended.

Wan Aizuddin: Can you recall what was the year? 

Lim: I can’t recall.

Wan Aizuddin: Can you recall what were the companies that he recommended? 

Lim: No, I cant recall.

Wan Aizuddin: You recall providing services to Cendana Destiny and Selesa Productive?

Lim: I can’t recall.

At this juncture, a visibly irritated Wan Aizuddin asked if Lim could recall whether Low had recommended to him that he (Lim) serve as secretary to other companies.

Lim replied he had.

Wan Aizuddin then asked if Low made this offer before TIA was formed, to which Lim said he only had a vague memory of the occasion. 

Lim: I think it was before (TIA was formed), to my vague recollection.

Wan Aizuddin asked Lim how got the job with TIA. Lim said it was because he had been in the TIA steering committee before the company was officially established, and that it was the board of directors who had appointed him company secretary.

Wan Aizuddin: Did Low offer you the job?

Lim: No, it was the board, collectively. Not any individual.

At 3.30pm, Wan Aizuddin requested the trial to be postponed to next Tuesday.

Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah granted the request.

However, Wan Aizuddin took a final swipe at Lim, telling the witness to do some homework and refresh his memory before the cross-examination resumes. – May 12, 2022.