1MDB had problems providing documents, says ex-govt auditor

 

Former government auditor Saadatul Nafisah Bashir Ahmad says changes were made to 57 areas in the 1MDB audit report after then CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy said the ‘serious’ wording may have implications on readers.

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court heard today that 1MDB faced difficulties six years ago in providing documents and assisting government auditors in preparing an audit report on the company’s state of affairs.

Lawyer N Sivananthan, in cross-examining former government auditor Saadatul Nafisah Bashir Ahmad, pointed out that then 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy had told a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meeting on Dec 1, 2015 that police raided the company and seized documents and computers for their investigations a few months earlier.

Arul Kanda is accused of abetting former prime minister Najib Razak in abusing his power to obtain immunity from legal action and causing amendments to the finalised 1MDB audit report before it was tabled to the PAC.

“He (Arul Kanda) told the PAC they would try their best to get whatever documents from third parties as well as from the police themselves for (officers from) NAD (National Audit Department),” Sivananthan pointed out.

Nafisah confirmed that this was what Arul Kanda told the committee.

She also told the court that during the department’s exit conference meeting with 1MDB on Dec 16, 2015, the company officials requested more meetings with the government auditors to clarify certain issues before the report went to the printer.

“We only gave them until Jan 30, 2016 to provide us with the relevant documents so we could complete our report.

“We faced difficulties in obtaining documents for our audit,” she said.

SIvananthan, however, disputed the Jan 30, 2016 deadline, saying the date was not stated during the exit conference.

“I think the request was made verbally. 1MDB was aware of it but this was not captured in the minutes,” Nafisah said.

To questions on the Feb 24, 2016 meeting that she and former auditor-general Ambrin Buang attended, she confirmed that Arul Kanda took the same position as he did during the PAC proceedings.

The court previously heard that Ambrin and his officers had attended this meeting, chaired by then chief secretary to the government Ali Hamsa, along with Najib’s principal private secretary at the time, Shukry Mohd Salleh, senior treasury officials, an official from the Attorney-General’s Chambers and Arul Kanda.

After the meeting, the auditors agreed to remove four items, including two sets of financial statements and Low Taek Jho’s name in the company’s meeting minutes, from the final report.

The NAD only tabled its 1MDB findings before the PAC from March 4 to 7, 2016.

Nafisah said another two meetings were held on Feb 25 and 26, 2016 between NAD and 1MDB, where auditors agreed for 57 areas in the audit report to be amended.

“If we see the changes made towards the 57 areas, it is more to do with the wording and the way the contents were presented.

“Arul said there were ‘serious’ words in the audit report which may have implications on readers,” she said.

She said Ambrin was the only person to approve any amendments to the 1MDB audit report, if sufficient justification was provided.

Before the hearing adjourned, ad hoc prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram told the court the prosecution would be calling former 1MDB chairman Mohd Bakke Salleh, former auditor-general Madinah Mohamad and former 1MDB company secretary Lim Poh Seng to testify.

The hearing before High Court judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan continues on Sept 27. - FMT