Najib was 'Optimus Prime' to Jho Low

KUALA LUMPUR: Fat boy Jho Low, as fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho called himself, also had an interesting acronym for former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, the High Court here heard today.

Low, it seems, was fond of calling Najib OP, or Optimus Prime from the Transformers movies (Optimus Prime was the awe inspiring leader of the Autobot forces, an extra-terrestrial race of self-configuring robotic life forms in the Transformers franchise).

This was revealed by Najib's former relationship manager from AmBank Joanna Yu Ging Ping.

She said this when asked to explain who Jho Low was referring to when he used the OP initials in his chats with her.

“OP...it means Optimus Prime...Jho was referring to the prime minister.

“I asked him and he told me... OP is Najib,” she said when questioned by Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Datuk V Sithambaram.

The DPP had earlier referred Yu to the transcripts of Blackberry messenger chats between her and Low.

In one of the messages, Low had asked her which account OP should use to issue a RM10 million cheque.

In another, Low told Yu to inform her bank manager that OP would close his accounts after they were red flagged for huge over the counter cash transactions due to the accounts being overdrawn.

Earlier, Sithambaram also asked Yu to explain why she had constantly kept in touch with Low to update him about the shortfalls in Najib's accounts.

Yu was also asked to clarify why she had gone out of her way to ensure Najib's cheques did not bounce.

To these queries, she said: "It was the prime minister's accounts. It would have been an embarrassment if his cheques had bounced."

Najib, 66, is facing trial over the abuse of SRC International funds amounting to RM42 million.

The trial before Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali continues.