Testifying in Najib Razak’s trial, Hazem said the fugitive businessman gave him instructions through emails on what kind of proposed development projects and investments 1MDB should be involved in.

Najib is facing 25 charges of abuse of power and money laundering over alleged 1MDB funds amounting to RM2.28 billion deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.

“Everyone in 1MDB was aware and understood that Jho Low’s name should not be mentioned on record.

“This is part of his modus operandi,” Hazem said, adding that the company would treat Low’s instruction as if they came from the “Prime Minister’s Office”.

Najib’s lawyer Wan Aizuddin Wan Mohammed then asked the witness when Low set such “rules” about not mentioning his name on company records.

To that, Hazem said Low told him about it when they first met at a Putrajaya hotel on July 15, 2012. The witness said Najib’s then principal private secretary Azlin Alias introduced him to the Penang businessman, who was the former prime minister’s “unofficial adviser”.

Hazem joined 1MDB as chief operating officer the next month.

Wan Aizuddin asked Hazem if he had questioned why Low gave instructions to keep his name a secret.

“It has been a practice as this is a government-owned company. And the one who controlled 1MDB is the supreme power of the country,” Hazem said, without making reference to the identity of the “supreme power of the country”.

On Wan Aizuddin’s question about Hazem’s rant over his frustration with 1MDB state of affairs, through an email conversation on Sept 13, 2013 between him and former colleague Azmi Tahir, the witness said he had planned to leave the company.

Wan Aizuddin: But you didn’t leave in September 2013 and stayed until January 2015. Why?

Hazem: Azlin came and calmed me down, and told me not to leave.

The hearing continues before High Court Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah tomorrow.