I told 1MDB auditors to drop Jho Low issue on Najib's orders - witness

1MDB AUDIT TRIAL | Najib Abdul Razak’s former principal private secretary Shukry Mohd Salleh claimed the ex-premier ordered the latter to direct the National Audit Department (NAD) to drop Low Taek Jho and other sensitive issues from the 1MDB audit report.

Eleventh prosecution witness Shukry testified today that Najib gave this direction to him, regarding the fugitive businessperson, also known as Jho Low, during a meeting on Feb 26, 2016.

Testifying during today’s 1MDB audit amendment trial against Najib and the sovereign wealth fund’s former CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy, Shukry alleged that Najib gave the order so that the then opposition could not capitalise on the issue.

“On Feb 26, 2016, I met Najib at his office and Najib ordered me to, more or less, (say) like this, ‘Shukry, you tell audit so that sensitive and irrelevant issues such as Jho Low in 1MDB are not included in the report.

"'If the matter is found out by the opposition, it could be turned into an issue',” Shukry said while reading out from his witness statement during the trial at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

The 67-year-old witness also claimed that subsequently, he contacted then NAD auditor Saadatul Nafisah Bashir Ahmad to convey Najib’s instruction.

Najib is charged with using his position to order amendments to 1MDB's final audit report before it was presented to the Public Accounts Committee in order to prevent any action against him.

Co-accused Arul Kanda was charged with abetting Najib in making the amendments.

The charges are framed under Section 23 (1) of the MACC Act 2009, which specify a jail term of up to 20 years and a fine of no less than five times the amount of gratification or RM10,000, whichever is higher.

The prosecution is contending that a decision to make the amendments was made during a meeting on Feb 24, 2016, at the office of then chief secretary to the government Ali Hamsa.

It was alleged this was done to remove or alter certain portions of the 1MDB audit report, including dropping the issue of Low’s attendance at the fund’s board meetings.

Besides Ali and Arul Kanda, others who were present at the meeting were former auditor-general Ambrin Buang, Saadatul Nafisah, Shukry, and then Attorney-General’s Chambers representative Dzulkifli Ahmad.

During open-court proceedings before judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan this morning, Shukry testified that as far back as early February 2016, Najib had directed the witness to obtain from NAD the 1MDB audit report and check it before printing.

“This was because he (Najib) was afraid that nonsense may be written in the report,” the witness claimed.

Shukry testified that he then contacted Ambrin to convey Najib’s order, but he added that the then auditor-general was reluctant to hand it over as it needed to be then printed immediately to be given to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

The witness said he then informed Najib about this, whereby the then premier said that the 1MDB audit report needed to be checked to find out what was being reported by the then auditor-general in the report. Shukry said he conveyed this to Ambrin.

Shukry testified that on Feb 20 the same year, he received a mailed copy of the 1MDB audit report from Saadatul Nafisah.

He said that after glancing through the report, he told Najib that he had asked Arul Kanda to go through the report. He said Najib was agreeable with the move.

Shukry claimed that he then handed the report to Arul Kanda, whereby the latter allegedly said among other things that parts of the report needed to be amended. 

The witness said that he had then suggested to Arul Kanda to hold further discussion with the auditor-general.

He testified that on Feb 22, 2016, he received direction from Najib to call Ali and Ambrin for a meeting with the then premier to discuss the 1MDB audit report. 

He noted, however, that he does not know much about what was discussed at the meeting as he frequently left the meeting to carry out other tasks.

Shukry said that during the Feb 24 meeting that year, he raised the matter of 1MDB’s two conflicting financial statements for year 2014, saying that the issue could have a major impact on confidence in Malaysia by those outside the country.

“This was because if (the issue of) a big company under the government such as 1MDB is manipulated, it could bring implication to investor sentiment,” the witness claimed he said during the meeting.

Police report

Shukry testified that Ali then directed one Mohmad Isa Hussain to lodge a police report over the two versions of the 1MDB 2014 financial statements, and that following the meeting, Ambrin agreed to drop the issue from the audit report on the sovereign wealth fund.

He told the court he also raised the issue of the postponement of the Islamic Medium-Term Notes (IMTN, which was issued by Terengganu Investment Authority, before the state investment fund morphed into federal government-owned 1MDB).

Shukry testified that the postponement came on the heels of Najib’s audience with the then Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

“Najib did not inform the cabinet about the matter when in fact the cabinet meeting took place on the same day, after Najib’s audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

“For me, the words used in the report showed as though Najib was hiding something. At that time, I merely raised the question on whether Najib was ‘duty bound’ under law and regulation to inform the cabinet about the matter.

“The meeting agreed to drop the issue after having received views from Dzulkifli,” Shukry testified.

After he had finished reading out from the written witness statement, the court  then played the two-hour-plus recording of the meeting on Feb 24, 2016.

The playback was done for the purpose of identification by prosecution witness Shukry.

The trial before Zaini is expected to continue until this afternoon.

Later this afternoon, after the audio recording was played back, Shukry confirmed it was his voice in certain parts of the recording.

During the examination-in-chief by deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib, the witness also confirmed he attended the meeting in his then capacity as Najib's principal private secretary.

Proceedings before Zaini are set to resume on Oct 20 and 21.

Court of Appeal maintains Sri Ram in Najib’s 1MDB-linked cases

Nov 8 decision on Najib’s appeal to disqualify Sri Ram as DPP

Najib cabinet gave go-ahead for audit of 1MDB: Prosecution witness

Prosecution witness: Najib telephoned Jho Low during 2009 1MDB meet