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KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 1): Former 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) chief executive officer Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi told the High Court here today that he had meetings with former Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Datuk Seri Hasan Ariffin after attending the PAC hearing in 2015, to be briefed about the contents of the PAC report that was to be tabled to the parliament.
During the ninth prosecution witness' examination-in-chief today, Shahrol said he had several meetings prior and subsequent to the PAC hearing in 2015.
The meetings were hosted by Datuk Seri Ahmad Farid Ridzuan, who was at the time in charge of 'image branding' for former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak.
Shahrol said that initially he was informed by his successor at 1MDB, Arul Kanda Kandasamy, that "someone from the PMO (Prime Minister's Office)" had asked them to leave the country to avoid attending the hearing.
Shahrol then went to Singapore but he eventually returned to face the committee.
When senior deputy public prosecutor Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram asked what the purpose of these meetings was, Shahrol said the pre-hearing meetings were to prepare him for the kind of questions to be asked during the hearing while the post-hearing meetings were to discuss what the report was going to contain.
Sri Ram: What role did Hasan Arifin play at the meeting?
Shahrol: He was [the] only one present at the post-PAC hearing (meeting), he told me about what were the thoughts of the committee, and what was going into the report.
Shahrol: Throughout all these meetings, the message was very strongly (conveyed) that it was a political attack against the PM and to downplay any role Datuk Seri Najib had in the decision-making of 1MDB.
Hasan is the current MP for Rompin, and was the PAC chairman from Oct 2015 to April 2018.
At the time, he was nominated by Najib, and appointed to the post by former Dewan Rakyat speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia.
It was also revealed today that prior to the first PAC hearing in 2010, Shahrol was briefed by alleged 1MDB mastermind Low Taek Jho.
The fugitive businessman had given him talking points to downplay the involvement of Najib and Jho Low in the decision making of 1MDB and its former subsidiary SRC International Sdn Bhd.
The talking points also stated that the scandal was a political attack against the Prime Minister.
Najib was chairman of the board of advisers in 1MDB and chairman emeritus in SRC, with amendments to the memorandum and articles of association of these companies granting him absolute power over their operations.
At that time, Shahrol said he also met with "one or two Barisan Nasional members of the PAC".
For instance, he said, he met with Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan — who was a PAC member at the time — and discussed about the kind of questions that the PAC would ask.
Shahrol's testimony is part of the prosecution's mission to prove that Najib had actively taken steps to prevent the former 1MDB CEO from revealing the criminal acts he had committed within the company, so much so that he interfered in the process of the PAC hearings.
In his opening statement, Sri Ram said the prosecution will produce evidence to show that the accused, Najib, took active steps to evade justice.
"He interfered with the course of investigation of this case which has come to be known as the 1MDB Scandal. He took active steps to effect a cover up of his criminal acts," Sri Ram said.
Najib is currently facing 25 charges of money laundering and abuse of power over the alleged embezzlement of billions of ringgit belonging to 1MDB.
Sri Ram concluded Shahrol's examination-in-chief today. The hearing will resume on Monday.
The Edge is reporting the proceedings of the 1MDB-Tanore trial live.
