Tengku Zafrul: I had never attended any meeting about TIA

KUALA LUMPUR: Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz has denied allegations by former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner that he attended a meeting on the Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA) in 2009.

"Referring to the Free Malaysia Today (FMT) article on Tim Leissner's testimony in the trial in the United States, I would like to confirm that I had never attended any meeting on the Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA) in 2009 with the Sultan of Terengganu and other individuals mentioned in the statement," he said in a brief post on Facebook.

FMT reported that Tengku Zafrul's name was mentioned in Leissner's testimony at the trial of another former banker, Roger Ng, in connection with 1Malaysia Development Bhd, which is underway in the US.

Leissner, who was a witness in the trial, told a federal court in New York about a high-level meeting on the TIA which later became 1MDB.

He said that according to court documents seen by FMT, Leissner took note of an email from Ng regarding a TIA meeting in 2009.

In the email, Ng informed that apart from himself, other individuals who would participate in the meeting were the Sultan of Terengganu, Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin; wanted businessman Low Taek Jho; Kenanga Investment Bank group managing director Ramli Ismail and Tengku Zafrul, who was then a director in Kenanga, the report said.

-- BERNAMA