Goh Gaik Kim, who was with 1MDB from 2011 to 2016, denied a previous allegation that she was Jho Low’s aunt.

“I can categorically say I am not his aunt and I am not in any way related to him,” she said, when cross-examined by Najib’s lawyer, Wan Aizuddin Wan Mohamed.

Wan Aizuddin had asked her about the claim, which surfaced during Najib’s SRC International trial, that Gaik Kim was the sister of Jho Low’s mother, Goh Gaik Ewe.

Gaik Kim’s name was mentioned by lawyer Harvinderjit Singh during his cross-examination of former SRC chairman Ismee Ismail.

He had asked whether he knew that Gaik Kim was Gaik Ewe’s sister. Ismee said he did not know.

Former finance minister Lim Guan Eng had also come to Gaik Kim’s defence, saying she had informed the ministry that she was not related to Jho Low. Jho Low also issued a statement to deny the claim.

Earlier today, Gaik Kim told the court she had only seen Jho Low once, “from afar”.

“I was having lunch with Tan Sri Ong (Gim Huat) and Radhi (Mohamad) at Concorde Hotel. Ong and Radhi saw Jho Low and went to say hello to him.

“When they came back, I asked who the person they spoke to was, and they said Jho Low.

“I asked them again who he really was, but they kept quiet,” she said. Ong was a former 1MDB director and Radhi was the former chief financial officer.

Wan Aizuddin: Did the management inform you that Jho Low played any part in 1MDB?

Gaik Kim: Whatever I know about his role is from the media.

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

The hearing before trial judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues.