Najib never asked me to choose between conflicting 1MDB financial statements - Ambrin
Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak never asked former auditor-general Ambrin Buang to choose one out of two conflicting financial statements of 1MDB for financial year 2014, the Kuala Lumpur High Court heard today.
Sixth prosecution witness Ambrin testified that he was never told that by Najib during a meeting at the prime minister’s department in Putrajaya on Feb 22, 2016.
This was two days before a crucial Feb 24 meeting which...
Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak never asked former auditor-general Ambrin Buang to choose one out of two conflicting financial statements of 1MDB for financial year 2014, the Kuala Lumpur High Court heard today.
Sixth prosecution witness Ambrin (above) testified that he was never told that by Najib during a meeting at the prime minister’s department in Putrajaya on Feb 22, 2016.
This was two days before a crucial Feb 24 meeting which allegedly led to a decision to drop several potentially controversial issues from the 1MDB final audit report.
Among the issues purportedly dropped from the said report was the issue of 1MDB’s two conflicting financial statements for the year 2014.
Ambrin was replying to Najib’s lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah during cross-examination during open-court proceedings before judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan today.
Shafee: Did the prime minister (Najib) say that there are two (1MDB) financial statements for the same year (2014), that he prefers A to B (hypothetical labelling of the two financial statements)?
Ambrin: No, he never said that.
Najib is charged with using his position to order amendments to the 1MDB audit report before it was presented to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to avoid any action being taken against him.
Co-accused Arul Kanda, who was then 1MDB president and CEO, 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.
Ambrin also said that Najib never (during the Feb 22, 2016, meeting) gave specific instruction to him to change certain parts of the 1MDB audit report before it was presented to the PAC.
The witness reiterated that he was also never pressured by any other external parties to alter the report.
Under cross-examination by Shafee, the prosecution witness said that he had never been threatened by either Najib, his then chief private secretary Shukry Mohd Salleh, or then chief secretary to the government Ali Hamsa, to alter the report.
Shafee: Would you have succumbed to pressure or threat from the prime minister (Najib), Ali Hamsa, or Shukry, to carry out their wishes rather than view of the (National) Audit Department (NAD)?
Ambrin: As far as I am concerned, there was no threat.
The witness added that nobody from the prosecution or MACC has ever threatened him with being charged as an alleged accomplice in the case if he testified in a certain way.
After around 50 minutes of cross-examination this morning, Shafee informed the court that Najib’s defence team has wrapped up cross-examination of Ambrin for the time being.
However, Shafee said that Najib’s defence team reserved its right to seek a recall of Ambrin for further cross-examination, depending on new revelations that may come forth from witness testimonies.
Arul’s defence counsel Jasmine Chong then told the court that the former 1MDB CEO’s defence team could only cross-examine Ambrin tomorrow.
She said this is because lead defence counsel N Sivananthan today is outstation attending to a separate court matter.
Zaini then adjourned proceedings for today. The trial will resume tomorrow morning.
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