MACC trying to find out ‘how and why this happened’

Summoned: Dzulkifli leaving the MACC headquaters to assist in investigations over 1MDB audit in Putrajaya.

PUTRAJAYA: Graft investigators are probing various wrongdoing in the alleged “tampering” of the 1MDB final audit report, including determining elements of power abuse among high-ranking officials.

More than a dozen officials have been summoned for questioning since investigators were given a copy of the unamended version of the report. Sources said the officials were asked to explain “how and why this had happened”.

Among those called up were Tan Sri Shukry Salleh who had served as chief principal private secretary to then prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

Also called to answer questions from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigators were former chief secretary to the government Tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa, former AuditorGeneral Tan Sri Ambrin Buang and the then 1MDB group president and chief executive officer Arul Kanda Kandasamy.

These former top officials were mentioned by Auditor-General Tan Sri Dr Madinah Mohamad in her statement issued on Nov 25.

“We have called these people and many more. We want to know the reason why the report was changed, who authorised the changes and who made the changes,” a source said yesterday.

Asked whether the investigation is close to completion and if charges would be made soon, the source responded: “We are working on it.”

Earlier yesterday, former MACC chief Tan Sri Dzulkifli Ahmad and Ambrin were summoned by investigators.

Dzulkifli, after spending five hours with investigators, clarified that he was called not in his former capacity in the MACC, but as a representative from the Attorney General’s Chambers.

“When I attended the meeting in February 2016, I was not yet the MACC chief. I am called today not in my capacity in MACC but as a legal officer of the AGC,” he added.

Dzulkifli had served the AGC, including holding the post of the head of the National Revenue Recovery Enforcement Team, before he was appointed to helm MACC on Aug 1, 2016. He was supposed to hold the post until July 2021, but resigned in May this year.

Dzulkifli also said he was not the main witness in this case, claiming that 15 other individuals had been called and that he was among the last.

Ambrin, who arrived at 2pm, has yet to leave the complex at press time.

In her statement, Dr Madinah said that one of the changes made to the 1MDB final audit report was the removal of a paragraph or paragraphs mentioning the presence of fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho or Jho Low.

She revealed that the directive to make the changes had come from Shukry and were made on Feb 26, 2016 on grounds that it was a sensitive issue and to prevent it from being manipulated by the then political opposition.- Star