KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 7 — Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi told the High Court today that he remained trusting of Datuk Seri Najib Razak even when the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in 2015 urged authorities to investigate him for alleged mismanagement of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
Testifying against Najib in the latter’s 1MDB corruption trial, Shahrol, who was the firm’s former chief executive, said he was still on “team Najib” at that time and believed his actions in the firm was done for the betterment of the country.
This follows after lead defence counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah had asked Shahrol during cross-examination on why he had not challenged the decision of the PAC inquiry.
Shahrol also said he was asked not to challenge the decision.
Shahrol: I was on team Najib and playing my role.
Shafee: Finally you were condemned whether fairly or unfairly, how could you be on team Najib when you were condemned, nobody protected, the Opposition walloped you, the government also walloped you.
Shahrol: Even at the time I had trusted Datuk Seri Najib and before all these other things came out, I was shown the money flows, the accounts, I still believed him, and I believed his team that this was a political attack against him.
Shahrol had attended a PAC meeting in November in 2015 and was questioned for three hours by its members. Among these were then Petaling Jaya MP Tony Pua and then Kepong MP Tan Seng Giaw, among others.
In 2016, after reviewing reports by the Auditor-General on 1MDB and concluding its investigations, the PAC had found Shahrol and the 1MDB board of directors responsible for weaknesses in the administration of the sovereign wealth fund.
In his witness statement, Shahrol had repeatedly said that Najib had “ultimate power” in the decision-making process of 1MDB.
