OFFICIALS, including a senior officer representing Najib Razak, requested that any mention of Low Taek Jho be removed from the auditor-general’s report on 1Malaysia Development Bhd, a witness told the Kuala Lumpur High Court today.

Former National Audit Department audit director Saadatul Nafisah Bashir testified today that it was the former prime minister’s principal private secretary Shukry Mohd Salleh who wanted to remove all references to the Penang-born businessman before the report was tabled in Parliament.  

Najib is facing trial for using his position to remove parts of the auditor-general’s final audit report on 1MDB between February 22 and 26, 2016 at the Prime Minister’s Department before it was tabled to the Public Accounts Committee, to protect himself from criminal action.

Former 1MDB chief Arul Kanda Kandasamy is on also trial for abetting Najib.  

Saadatul, reading from her witness statement, said she was present along with her boss, former auditor-general Ambrin Buang, at a high-level meeting on February 24, 2016, chaired by then chief secretary to the government Ali Hamsa. 

Also present at the meeting was Dzulkifli Amhad, an officer from the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

Others at the meeting were Treasury deputy secretary-general (investment) Isa Hussain, Minister of Finance Inc (MoF) representative Asri Hamidon, Ali’s senior private secretary Norazman Ayub, Arul Kanda and Shukry. 

It was this meeting that was taped by NAD director Nor Salwani Muhammad, who testified last November that she hurriedly slipped a recording device into a colleague’s pencil case after she was told to leave the room.

Among the issues raised at the meeting was Low’s involvement in the issuance of RM5 billion in Islamic medium-term notes to fund a joint venture between PetroSaudi Ltd and 1MDB.

Low was present at a 1MDB board meeting on September 26, 2009. 

Saadatul told the court that during the February 24, 2016 meeting, Shukry made the request to drop any mention of Low in the 2009 1MDB board meeting “for fear that it was a sensitive matter and to prevent the facts from being twisted by the opposition”.

Saadatul said she and Ambrin were “frustrated” by the how the meeting was carried out, saying they faced resistance from other officials when presenting their “statement of facts”.

The February 24, 2016 meeting also discussed Bank Negara’s investigations into business dealings involving Country Group Securities Thailand and ACME Time Ltd, which were owned by Low.

“Arul Kanda then proposed that (this) issue be removed from the 1MDB audit report because he was of the view that the matter was outside the 1MDB audit issue. 

“Tan Sri Ali Hamsa agreed for the issue to be dropped from the report, based on those reasons,” Saadatul said. 

Najib and Arul Kanda sat in the dock today. They are represented by lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah and N. Sivanathan, respectively.

The trial, before judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan, continues. – January 13, 2020.