KUALA LUMPUR: Former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi told the High Court in Najib Razak’s money laundering and abuse of power trial today that the ex-prime minister received RM216,000 a year for his role on the fund’s advisory board.
He said that Najib, on June 6, 2010, signed a director’s circular resolution to approve the sum as a board member and chairman of the advisory board.
“The amount was fixed by Datuk Seri himself in his capacity as the advisory board’s chairman,” he said.
As chairman, he said, Najib had received RM120,000 a year in addition to RM96,000 as a member of the advisory board.
“After obtaining his approval, we (the management) brought the matter to the 1MDB board of directors for their approval,” he added.
He said the directors received between RM179,000 and RM230,000 in yearly allowances.
“Che Lodin Wok Kamaruddin as the chairman received RM230,000 annually while the directors, Ismee Ismail, Ong Gim Huat, Ashvin Jethanand and I, received RM179,000 a year.”
He added that fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho had suggested the sums, to which Najib had agreed.
He said the sums were approved during a meeting on March 31, 2011.
The payments came into effect on April 1, 2011. There were no subsequent amendments to the allowances, he added.
Shahrol also told the court that he had met Najib at his residence in Langgak Duta on Oct 16, 2009 to update the prime minister on Terengganu Investment Authority’s issuance of Islamic medium-term notes in pursuit of a loan, as well as the proposed joint-venture with Petro Saudi International.
“The minutes for the meeting that day were prepared beforehand by Jho Low,” he said.
“The face to face meeting was just to formalise and confirm my understanding of Datuk Seri’s directions and instructions.”
Najib is standing trial for 25 counts of money laundering and abuse of power charges over alleged 1MDB funds amounting to RM2.28 billion deposited in his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.
The hearing continues before High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah. - FMT
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