KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court was told that a police raid six years ago made it difficult for 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) to hand over documents for audit by the National Audit Department (NAD).

       Former NAD auditor Saadatul Nafisah Bashir Ahmad, the seventh prosecution witness, agreed to the suggestion made by lawyer Datuk N. Sivananthan in the 1MDB audit trial involving former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and former 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy here yesterday.

       Sivananthan, who is representing Arul Kanda, was questioning Saadatul Nafisah on the NAD’s requests for 1MDB’s documents.

       Sivananthan: Are you aware that the police had seized documents from 1MDB on July 8, 2015?

       Saadatul Nafisah: I heard in the news but I don’t remember the exact date and what documents they seized.

       Sivananthan: In these circumstances, would you agree with me that it would have put 1MDB in a little bit of a difficult position, bearing in mind that the police had seized the documents, and they (1MDB) therefore had to request those documents back from the authorities for the audit process?

       Saadatul Nafisah: Yes.

       The witness was then shown a document, which was the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) proceedings report, dated Dec 1, 2015.

       Sivananthan referred Saadatul Nafisah to Arul’s statement on page nine of the document where Arul Kanda had taken a position pertaining to the problems faced by 1MDB.

       Sivananthan: Further down the page... so the position he was taking was that if he had the documents, he would submit it?

       Saadatul Nafisah: Yes.

       Sivananthan: But because of the raid by the police, the police had control of the documents?

       Saadatul Nafisah: Yes.

       It was reported that the police had raided 1MDB’s headquarters at Menara IMC in Kuala Lumpur on July 8, 2015.

       In a statement released to the media, it was said that minutes, bank statements, agreements and ledgers had been seized during the raid that began at 9.40am and ended at 6.45pm.

       Najib, 67, 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 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 resumes before Justice Mohamed Zaini Mazlan on Sept 27.