KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court was told that the previous Pakatan Harapan government had decided on Datuk Seri Najib Razak's guilt over allegations of tampering with the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) audit report even before the former prime minister was charged in court.

       This was brought up during a cross-examination of former auditor-general Tan Sri Madinah Mohamad conducted by Najib's lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah here on Thursday (March 31).

       The witness was questioned on a Cabinet meeting she attended on Nov 23, 2018, with ministers from the Pakatan government such as Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Lim Guan Eng and Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali whom Muhammad Shafee described as "unfriendly" with his client, Najib.

       The lawyer said Najib was conveniently charged two weeks later, on Dec 12, 2018, after the meeting took place.

       Muhammad Shafee: I put it to you, as a result of your briefing to the Cabinet, they (the Cabinet) decided my client is guilty even before he was charged.

       Madinah: May I explain?

       Justice Mohamed Zaini Mazlan, however, told the witness to only answer “agree” or “disagree” and save her explanation for the re-examination.

       Madinah: According to the meeting minutes, yes.

       The court also heard how Madinah's predecessor, former auditor-general Tan Sri Ambrin Buang, was reluctant to share his thoughts on the 1MDB debacle with her during a meeting with Ambrin in her office after she took over the auditor-general post in 2017.

       The 1MDB issue was then a hot topic but it was something that everyone was skirting around, said Madinah.

       The witness said she wanted to understand and hear Ambrin's thoughts on 1MDB as the former AG himself.

       "That's why I brought this up to him and he was reluctant to share in detail.

       "I don't know why he was reluctant. He said 'you read it yourself'," she added.

       Najib, 69, is accused of abusing his position to order amendments to the 1MDB final audit report to avoid any action being taken against him while former 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy, 46, is accused of abetting Najib in making the amendments to the report.

       Both men were charged under Section 23(1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009, which provides 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, upon conviction.

       The hearing continues before Justice Mohamed Zaini Mazlan on Friday (April 1).