Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi also denies suggestions that he was trying to shift blame to everyone else while clearing himself in the multi-billion-ringgit sovereign wealth fund scandal.
The 56-year-old, testifying as the fourth plaintiff witness, said he did not strike any deal with the government to be removed from the suit and was not given any explanation for the decision.
He revealed this during cross-examination by lawyer GK Ganesan, who represents former 1MDB investment director Kelvin Tan, the seventh defendant in the suit.
Ganesan: You were originally sued in this action?
Shahrol: Correct.
When Ganesan asked if his name was later removed from the suit, Shahrol confirmed it but said he had no idea why.
When Ganesan asked if he had signed any consent deal with 1MDB after being removed as a defendant, Shahrol confirmed he had not entered into any such agreement with the company.
He also denied suggestions by Nur Syafinaz Vani Abdullah, lawyer for the fifth defendant, former director of investments and chief investment officer Vincent Beng, that he was trying to shift blame to everyone else while clearing himself in the multi-billion-ringgit sovereign wealth fund scandal.
Earlier, Najib Razak’s counsel, Shafee Abdullah told the court the defence needs four days to cross-examine Shahrol.
The other lawyers representing the remaining defendants said they would each need at least two hours to do so.
The court then proceeded with Shahrol’s cross-examination by counsel for the other defendants.
1MDB and its subsidiaries – 1MDB Energy Holdings Ltd, 1MDB Energy Ltd, 1MDB Energy (Langat) Ltd and Global Diversified Investment Company Ltd, formerly known as 1MDB Global Investments Ltd – filed the civil suit on May 7, 2021.
They named former prime minister Najib, 1MDB’s former finance director Terrence Geh, former executive director Casey Tang, former general counsel Jasmine Loo, Vincent Beng, former chief financial officer Radhi Mohamad, Kelvin Tan, and former chief investment officer Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil as defendants.
Last week, 1MDB dropped its civil suit against Radhi, with no liberty to refile. The company had previously removed Jasmine Loo from the case as well.
The writ of summons stated that the plaintiffs, among other things, accused the defendants of breach of trust, breach of statutory duty, abuse of power and conspiracy to misappropriate 1MDB funds.
The trial before judicial commissioner Redzuan Idrus resumes tomorrow. - FMT
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.