KUALA LUMPUR: Former Treasury secretary-general Irwan Serigar Abdullah told the High Court in Najib Razak’s 1MDB trial that he was “unnecessarily” charged for alleged criminal breach of trust (CBT) involving payments to International Petroleum Investment Company (Ipic).
Irwan said that 1MDB was obliged to service its loans to avoid the calling of a cross-default.
“I don’t understand why the previous government charged me for paying the debt.
“(Former finance minister) Lim Guan Eng was also paying the debt (during his tenure),” he said.
In 2018, Irwan was jointly charged with Najib on six counts of misappropriating RM6.6 billion worth of public funds for payments to Ipic.
However, the RM6.6 billion CBT trial will only begin in April 2023.
Irwan also told the court he spoke to Najib after the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) released its findings on 1MDB in April 2016.
“I went to see him (Najib) and told him that I (was) doing a restructuring exercise to make 1MDB viable.
“I told him that action needed to be taken against Shahrol (Azral Ibrahim Halmi) and others,” he said, referring to the company’s former CEO.
Asked by ad hoc prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram what Najib’s response to his suggestion was, Irwan said, “He (Najib) just kept quiet. He is a nice man.”
The hearing continues on Wednesday before justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah.
Najib is standing trial on 25 counts of money laundering and abuse of power over the alleged misuse of 1MDB funds amounting to RM2.28 billion deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014. - FMT
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