Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak never asked former auditor-general Ambrin Buang to choose one out of two conflicting financial statements of 1MDB for financial year 2014, the Kuala Lumpur High Court heard today.
Sixth prosecution witness Ambrin (above) testified that he was never told that by Najib during a meeting at the prime minister’s department in Putrajaya on Feb 22, 2016.
This was two days before a crucial Feb 24 meeting which allegedly led to a decision to drop several potentially controversial issues from the 1MDB final audit report.
Among the issues purportedly dropped from the said report was the issue of 1MDB’s two conflicting financial statements for the year 2014.
Ambrin was replying to Najib’s lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah during cross-examination during open-court proceedings before judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan today.
Shafee: Did the prime minister (Najib) say that there are two (1MDB) financial statements for the same year (2014), that he prefers A to B (hypothetical labelling of the two financial statements)?
Ambrin: No, he never said that.
Najib is charged with using his position to order amendments to the 1MDB audit report before it was presented to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to avoid any action being taken against him.
Co-accused Arul Kanda, who was then 1MDB president and CEO, is charged with abetting Najib in making the amendments to the report.
Both of them were charged under Section 23(1) of the MACC Act 2009, which specifies a jail term not exceeding 20 years, and a fine of no less than five times the amount of gratification or RM10,000, whichever is higher.
[More to follow] - Mkini
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