Ex-Petronas manager sent internal document to 2 Petros staff, court told

 Prosecution witness Jumsuri Basri testifies that the document was sent to two email addresses.

Khairul Akmal Jasni is accused of attempting to leak an internal company document, obtained in the course of his duties with Petronas, to Petros on June 8, 2024.

KUALA LUMPUR:

The sessions court here today heard that a former manager at Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) had sent an internal company document through his work email account to two Petroleum Sarawak Bhd (Petros) employees in 2024.

Prosecution witness Jumsuri Basri, 48, who was then Petronas industrial relations senior manager, testified that checks found Khairul Akmal Jasni, 40, had sent a document titled “Q1 2024 Upstream Business Performance” to two email addresses at about 3.19pm on June 8, 2024.

In his witness statement, Jumsuri said the whistleblowing committee alerted him to the alleged misconduct on Dec 6.

He testified that he subsequently informed several departments, including finance and cybersecurity, to conduct further checks.

“Checks by the cybersecurity department confirmed that Khairul, who was then the business unit performance manager, had sent the document on June 8.

“They also found that he attempted to send the same email earlier at 7.19am but failed because the file size was too large,” he said.

He said the document was marked “internal” on every page and could not be disclosed to any third party without approval from the head of the finance and risk department.

Jumsuri said Khairul was suspended from Dec 9, 2024, to Feb 8, 2025, pending an internal investigation. He added that he lodged a police report the next day.

Khairul was subsequently issued a show-cause letter before his employment was terminated on Dec 20, 2024.

During examination-in-chief, deputy public prosecutor Noor Syafina Radzuan asked Jumsuri how he knew the recipients were Petros employees.

Jumsuri: “Based on the email address. To our knowledge, Petroleum Sarawak is known as Petros.”

Noor Syafina: “You said the confidential document should not be shared with outsiders, especially competitors. In this case, who is the competitor?”

Jumsuri: “In this case, Petros is a competitor because it is also involved in the oil and gas industry. If confidential information is disclosed to a third party, it could have implications for Petronas.”

However, during cross-examination by defence counsel Louis Liaw, Jumsuri acknowledged that the internal investigations did not extend to contacting the owners of the email addresses.

Liaw also questioned why the internal inquiry failed to consider Khairul’s response to the show-cause letter, in which he explained that he did not send the document to Petros as his laptop was in the custody of a female colleague at the material time.

Jumsuri responded that the colleague in question was not relevant to him in the internal probe. “I looked at the evidence in front of me. I saw an email from Khairul. My action was based on the balance of probabilities,” he said.

Khairul was charged with attempting to leak the document, obtained in the course of his duties in Petronas, to Petros. The offence was allegedly committed at B-6-10, Marc Service Residence, Jalan Pinang, Dang Wangi, here on June 8, 2024, between 3.19pm and 3.21pm.

The charge was framed under Section 203A(1) read with Section 511 of the Penal Code. If convicted, he is liable to a minimum fine of RM1 million, imprisonment of up to a year, or both.

The trial before judge Mazuliana Abdul Rashid will continue tomorrow. - FMT