Former 1MDB chief executive officer Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi told the Kuala Lumpur High Court today that the 1MDB board omitted details in its minutes to protect then prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.

Shahrol (photo, above) said this while under cross-examination by lead defence lawyer Muhammad Sahfee Abdullah when asked why the 1MDB board minutes did not mention anything about the difficulties the state-owned fund was facing in getting the deal with PetroSaudi International Ltd (PSI).

The former 1MDB CEO was testifying in former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak's RM2.28 billion 1MDB trial.

Among the issues was 1MDB's auditor, Ernst & Young (EY), delaying to sign off on its books due to concerns about the value of oil assets offered by PSI.

"If I may, throughout my tenure from 2009 to 2013, members of the board and I were under this pervasive deal that we must be careful on what we minute, or else we will be turned against our main shareholder Datuk Seri Najib.

"It wasn't minuted, but yes I insisted, and yes it was discussed. There was a good reason.

"At the time, the phrasing was 'mesti protect PM' (must protect the prime minister)," Shahrol said.

Shahrol said he was ordered not to give "extra ammunition" for political attacks.

The trial is being presided over by High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah.

EY was later sacked by 1MDB as its auditor and replaced with KPMG, which signed off the company's books.

Najib is facing 25 charges of money laundering and abuse of power over a sum of RM2.28 billion originating from 1MDB.

The PetroSaudi deal is one of at least four phases in which 1MDB's funds were allegedly siphoned.

1MDB pumped around US$1.426 billion into the joint-venture deal, US$1.03 billion of which was diverted to Good Star Ltd, a company controlled by Najib's associate Low Taek Jho, a Penang-born businessperson. - Mkini