KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court was told that the 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 yesterday.
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 on Dec 12, 2018, two weeks 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 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 Ambrin was the former AG.
“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.
Madinah said she did not raise the matter with Ambrin again.
Muhammad Shafee also suggested that Madinah did not raise the issue on the audit report with Najib, who was the prime minister then, prior to Pakatan’s win in 2018 as she wanted to protect her tenure as the auditor-general.
Muhammad Shafee: I am putting it to you that you were dishonest, you did not confront the PM (Najib) because he would be relevant to your tenure as the AG.
Madinah: No.
Muhammad Shafee: You did not raise it because you want to protect your tenure.
Madinah: No.
The lawyer then suggested that Madinah had only gone to see Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (who was the prime minister in 2018 after Pakatan’s win) as everyone else had been removed from their positions following Pakatan’s rise to power and this was to protect her position as the auditor-general.
The witness disagreed.
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 Arul Kanda, 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 today (April 1) with former 1MDB chairman Tan Sri Mohd Bakke Salleh expected to take the stand before Justice Mohamed Zaini Mazlan.