KUALA LUMPUR, June 15 — No company owned by the Minister of Finance Inc other than 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) ever saw then-finance minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s direct intervention, a former high-ranking ministry official said today.
Datuk Siti Zauyah Mohd Desa, a former deputy secretary-general (policy) of the Finance Ministry, highlighted that Najib — who was also the prime minister then — had been the chairman of 1MDB’s board of advisers.
Siti Zauyah said this while testifying as the 26th prosecution witness in former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s trial over the misappropriation of more than RM2 billion of 1MDB funds.
Even though 1MDB is wholly-owned by MoF Inc, she said that no officer from the Finance Ministry or the ministry’s MOF Inc division had been appointed to be a member of 1MDB’s board of directors.
“This is because in other MoF Inc companies (other than 1MDB), the finance minister is not directly involved like in this 1MDB company, where YAB finance minister namely Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Haji Abdul Razak had appointed himself to be the chairman of the board of advisers to 1MDB.
“I confirm, in other MoF Inc companies, this matter does not happen,” she said.
Today, she had also verified having received a June 22, 2010 letter from 1MDB’s then CEO Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi, where the company informed her of 1MDB’s corporate governance structure as being board of advisers with Najib as its chairman, followed by its board of directors featuring Tan Sri Che Lodin Wok Kamaruddin and management team.
Throughout 1MDB being under MoF Inc’s ownership, Siti Zauyah said her MOF Inc division at the ministry had not received cooperation from 1MDB through its CEO then Shahrol Azral.
“There were a few times we called him to meet to discuss issues arising but it was cancelled at the last minute. Therefore, many matters carried out by 1MDB did not receive views from and were not reported to the Finance Ministry,” she said.
Najib’s 1MDB trial before High Court judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah resumes this afternoon.
Najib’s lawyer Wan Aizuddin Wan Mohammed informed the court that Najib’s lead defence lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah is expected to cross-examine Siti Zauyah next Monday, as Shafee has some medical matters to attend today.
