Najib ‘axed’ govt audit | The Star

KUALA LUMPUR: Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had issued a letter to exempt 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) from being audited by the National Audit Department (NAD) in 2009, the High Court heard.

Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) senior officer Nur Aida Ariffin, 37, testified that the Finance Ministry, through the Treasury secretary-general, had recommended for 1MDB to be audited by the NAD as part of due diligence.

The audit, however, was “axed” through Najib’s letter that was issued on Dec 22, 2009.

The letter stated that 1MDB must be audited by an external professional auditor appointed by the 1MDB board of directors.

“In line with this directive, the 1MDB board of directors appointed Ernst & Young to audit 1MDB’s financial statement,” Nur Aida said in her 95-page witness statement here yesterday.

Earlier, the court heard that MACC conducted its probe into Najib on suspicion that billions of ringgit went into the former Pekan MP’s bank accounts to buy votes in preparation for the 13th General Election in 2013.

Nur Aida said US$681mil was received through Falcon Private Bank Singapore and channelled into Najib’s AmPrivate Banking account ending 694 some time in 2013.

Nur Aida, who was testifying in Najib’s 1MDB corruption and money-laundering trial involving RM2.28bil, said a complaint was lodged on May 4, 2015 about the money.

The investigation, she said, was carried out in accordance with Section 16 of the MACC Act 2009.

“The content of the complaint, among others, stated that Najib, who was the chairman of 1Malaysia Development Bhd board of advisers and finance minister, had received funds from 1MDB totalling RM3.2bil for his personal use,” the witness said.

She added that the focus of MACC’s investigation on Najib was for offences under Section 23 of the MACC 2009, in relation to the large sum of money that came into his two bank accounts ending 694 and 880 between 2011 and 2014.

The investigation also looked into the suspicion that Najib had allegedly abused his position throughout his tenure as the prime minister, the finance minister and the chair of the 1MDB board of advisers.

“I conducted an investigation based on documents from Bank Negara, the police and the Finance Ministry,” she said.

The 49th prosecution witness was reading her witness statement in an examination-in-chief conducted by deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib.

Najib, 70, is on trial for 25 charges in total – four for abuse of power that allegedly brought him the financial benefit to the tune of RM2.28bil; and 21 for money laundering involving the same amount of money.

The hearing continues before Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah on Friday.