Low Taek Jho was already swindling billions of ringgit out of 1MDB long before Najib Abdul Razak even opened a related bank account, the Kuala Lumpur High Court heard today.

Defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah made this contention during his cross-examination of 1MDB’s former board member Ismee Ismail.

During the trial of the RM2.28 billion 1MDB corruption case before judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah, the lawyer...