EX-1MALAYSIA Development Bhd (1MDB) chairman Mohd Bakke Salleh told the High Court today that he regrets not confronting Najib Razak over irregularities in the handling of 1MDB funds.

Bakke, taking the witness stand, said he should have informed the former prime minister about the irregularities, but felt uncomfortable doing so.

“As a board member, I was uncomfortable about the remittance (of US$700 million (RM3 billion) to Good Star Ltd) and that prompted me to resign. I even wanted to resign on the spot.

“I was uncomfortable about telling the prime minister. It was like saying I have suspicions about you, (but) I should have done that.

“I should have been prepared to do that even if he was the prime minister. I should (have been) bold enough. I should have stuck out my neck.”

He was responding to lead prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram, who asked the former why he did not lodge a complaint to the Finance Ministry over the irregularities when he resigned.

Bakke, 68, in previous testimony said he wanted to resign following 1MDB management’s remittance of US$700 million to Good Star Ltd despite reservations by the board.

Good Star, it was later revealed, is a company belonging to fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, deemed the mastermind of the 1MDB scandal.

Bakke, along with board member Azlan Mohd Zainol, resigned in protest of the remittance of the funds in 2009.

Najib’s lawyer, Mohamed Shafee Abdullah, during cross-examination, asked Bakke if he took “the easy way out” by resigning instead of addressing the controversies.

“You could have expressed all your frustration and fact findings and officially sent the complaint to the prime minister, but you chose not to.

“If you had, these issues would not have culminated, correct?”

Bakke disagreed with the statement.

Shafee told Bakke that he could have given the head of government a report to air his dissatisfaction.

Bakke said he could have done that, but added that the responsibility does not fall only on his shoulders but also other members of the board.

The trial will continue on June 7.

Najib is on trial for misappropriating RM2.28 billion of 1MDB funds. He faces 25 charges of abuse of power and money laundering for offences committed between 2011 and 2013. – May 19, 2022.