MACC officer denies promotion due to lax attitude in Najib’s RM2.6bil ‘donation’ probe

 

Former prime minister Najib Razak is charged with 25 counts of money laundering and abuse of power over alleged 1MDB funds amounting to RM2.28 billion deposited into his bank accounts. (Bernama pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: 

A Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission investigating officer denied he was promoted to a high rank in the civil service because of his lackadaisical attitude in probing former prime minister Najib Razak’s RM2.6 billion “donation” case.

MACC officer Fikri Ab Rahim told the High Court in the former prime minister’s 1MDB trial that his promotion to Jusa C was determined by MACC and Abu Kassim Mohamed, the chief commissioner at the time.

Fikri Ab Rahim.

“I don’t see him (Najib) as a factor in my promotion,” he said.

Last week, Fikri told the court that he and his colleagues, Nasharudin Amir and Hafaz Nazar, along with their superior, Azam Baki, and former deputy public prosecutor Dzulkifli Ahmad went to Saudi Arabia to meet one “Prince Saud Abdulaziz Al-Saud” at the end of 2015.

He was a Grade 54 officer in 2015, having joined the civil service for 10 years at the time.

The team was there to investigate four purported “donation letters” said to have been signed and sent by Saud to Najib, dated between Feb 1, 2011 and June 1, 2014.

However, Hafaz only took a statement from Saud’s lawyer, Mohamad Abdullah Al Koman.

Today, Fikri said both he and Azam did not instruct Hafaz or Nasharudin to ask Abdullah and Saud, or fugitive Tan Kim Loong, who was also present, for supporting documents.

He denied the suggestion by deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib that Fikri’s trip to Saudi Arabia was merely to get “pre-drafted” statements without asking Tan and Abdullah any questions.

Fikri insisted that Hafaz was efficient in completing the recording of their statements within 25 minutes.

MACC began probe into RM2.6bil donation case in 2015

Fikri also told the court that investigations into Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” case started in August 2015 after MACC received a complaint claiming that 1MDB funds were used to buy votes during the 13th general election held two years earlier.

The complaint accused Najib of receiving US$681 million (RM3.28 billion) in 2013 from Tanore Finance Corporation and that it had been used to bribe voters during the election.

Fikri said he knew MACC had recorded a statement from Najib that year.

“He was named in the report,” he said, adding that MACC took Najib’s statement as a witness.

The hearing continues on Feb 20 before Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah.

Najib is charged with 25 counts of money laundering and abuse of power over alleged 1MDB funds amounting to RM2.28 billion deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014. - FMT