Nur Aida Arifin said this when dismissing a suggestion made during cross-examination by lawyer Wan Azwan Aiman Wan Fakhruddin that the state investor was a profitable enterprise.

Wan Azwan pointed to 1MDB’s acquisition of two local power plants and its development of the Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) project here.

The 49th prosecution witness said the power plants had to be sold to a Chinese company to cut losses.

“TRX was supposed to be developed using investors’ money as per a joint venture agreement. However, 1MDB had to seek help from others to realise the project,” she added.

Najib’s lead counsel Shafee Abdullah then posed several more questions in cross-examination before telling trial judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah that the defence team was done with Aida after 16 days of questioning.
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“That is heartening news,” the judge remarked in reply.

The trial, which is still at the stage of the prosecution’s case, began on Aug 28, 2019 and today was its 200th hearing day.

Deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib proceeded to re-examine Aida by asking her to verify 81 documents received from Singapore, Hong Kong and Barbados in the course of investigating the case.

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

The hearing continues.