KUALA LUMPUR: An investigating officer agreed with a suggestion in the High Court here that Datuk Seri Najib Razak had the right to be given briefings on any proposals or corrections regarding the financial position of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigation branch senior superintendent Haniff Lami, 34, also agreed with the suggestion of lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, who is representing Najib, that 1MDB was 100% owned by the Minister of Finance Incorporated and that Najib was the Finance Minister then.
Muhammad Shafee: So, Datuk Seri Najib had the right to be briefed on the company’s proposals and actual financial situation?
Haniff: True.
The 16th prosecution witness admitted yesterday that he did not have expertise in investigating audit cases and had never investigated cases involving auditing apart from this case.
“I started serving in MACC as an investigating officer in 2016, two years before I was assigned to investigate this audit report amendment case in 2018,” he said at the trial of Najib and former 1MDB chief executive officer Arul Kanda Kandasamy on alleged tampering of the 1MDB audit report.
To a question by Muhammad Shafee, Haniff also admitted that the conclusions in his earlier witness statement were based only on the oral and written testimonies of other witnesses questioned by him.
Moral support: Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor arriving at the Kuala Lumpur court complex to support her husband’s 1MDB case. — IZZRAFIQ ALIAS/The Star
At a previous hearing, the witness said based on his investigation, Najib and Arul Kanda had tampered with the 1MDB final audit report to protect themselves from any civil or criminal actions in relation to the company’s operations.
Haniff said he was also aware of a statement by former auditor-general Tan Sri Ambrin Buang to the media in Parliament in December 2018 that no one could amend the 1MDB audit report without his (Ambrin) agreement.
Muhammad Shafee: So, in his statement, Ambrin meant there was no issue of tampering regarding the 1MDB report?
Haniff: True.
Muhammad Shafee: He (Ambrin) also said “no one could amend the 1MDB audit report without his approval”, and if an amendment was required, it should be discussed with the audit team and justified.
Haniff: True.
Najib, 68, is charged with using his position to order amendments to the 1MDB final audit report by the auditor-general before it was presented to the Public Accounts Committee to avoid any action being taken against him.
Arul Kanda, 45, is charged with abetting Najib in making the amendments to the report to protect Najib from being subjected to action.
The offence was allegedly committed at the Prime Minister’s Department Complex in Putrajaya between Feb 22 and 26, 2016.
Both of them were charged under Section 23 (1) of the MACC Act 2009, which provides for 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 before Justice Mohamed Zaini Mazlan continues on Sept 7. — Bernama
