Ali Hamsa surprised NAD officer recorded meeting, says might be unethical
AUDIT TAMPERING TRIAL | Former chief secretary to the government Ali Hamsa testified at the Kuala Lumpur High Court that he was surprised to learn that a National Audit Department officer had recorded a meeting intended to discuss changes to be made in the department's audit report on 1MDB.
Ali said this while being cross-examined by lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah in former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak's 1MDB audit report tampering trial.
He was asked about the action of NAD officer Nor Salwani Muhammad who...
AUDIT TAMPERING TRIAL | Former chief secretary to the government Ali Hamsa testified at the Kuala Lumpur High Court that he was surprised to learn a National Audit Department (NAD) officer had recorded a meeting intended to discuss changes to be made in the department's audit report on 1MDB.
Ali (above) said this while being cross-examined by lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah in former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak's 1MDB audit report tampering trial.
He was asked about the action of NAD officer Nor Salwani Muhammad who had placed an audio recording device in her colleague's pencil case to be brought into the meeting on Feb 24, 2016, which has now become a piece of key evidence in the case.
Shafee: Were you surprised a junior officer recorded the meeting?
Ali: I was surprised.
Shafee: Was it unethical?
Ali: Everyone in the room did not know there was a recording, so at that time, it could be unethical.
In her previous testimony in the trial, Salwani testified (photo) that she had the meeting recorded as she was required to take minutes of the meeting for the NAD but was not allowed in.
Then auditor-general Ambrin Buang had also told the court that he brought the entire 12-person 1MDB audit report team to the meeting with Ali and other officials but only one NAD officer was allowed to accompany him in the meeting.
Asked about this, Ali said the order not to allow the other NAD officers into the meeting did not come from him.
However, he said he was unsure if his officer had made any such instructions.
Ali added that the meeting room at his office in Putrajaya was small.
Shafee then asked if there were any complaints from the NAD on that day, to which Ali said there was none.
Ali said he could have considered having more chairs if there was a request to have the whole NAD team in the meeting but no such request was made.
When Shafee asked if anybody applied to be allowed to record the meeting, Ali said nobody applied on that day.
To a question on whether Ambrin looked upset after the meeting, Ali said not as far as he knew.
On Nov 28 last year, Ambrin was reported testifying while under examination-in-chief by the prosecution that he was disappointed by the questions raised by some who attended the Feb 24, 2016 meeting, in regards to the NAD audit report on 1MDB.
Proceedings before Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan will resume around 9.30am tomorrow.
Najib is charged with using his position to order amendments to the 1MDB final audit report before it was presented to the Public Accounts Committee to avoid any action being taken against him.
Co-accused, former 1MDB president and CEO K Arul Kanda, is charged with abetting Najib in making the amendments to the report.
Both of them were charged under Section 23 (1) of the MACC Act 2009, which specifies a jail term not exceeding 20 years, and a fine of no less than five times the amount of gratification or RM10,000, whichever is higher, on conviction.
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