KUALA LUMPUR: National Audit Department (NAD) officer, Nor Salwani Muhammad did not breach any code of conduct when she placed a recorder in her superior’s pencil case during a 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) audit report coordination meeting.
Former auditor-general, Tan Sri Ambrin Buang said Nor Salwani, 52, was part of the NAD audit team and she was supposed to take down notes, but was ushered out of the Feb 24, 2016 meeting because there was not enough space.
The sixth prosecution witness said this while fielding questions from lead prosecutor Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram during the examination-in-chief on the fifth day of the trial of former prime minister, Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak and former 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy on alleged tampering of the 1MDB final audit report.
Sri Ram: What was her function?
Ambrin: She was supposed to take down notes because the meeting discussed very important issues. There was a standing instruction that she had to follow all the (1MDB audit report) meetings.
An audio recording of a meeting linked to the alleged tampering of the 1MDB final audit report was played in the High Court last week.
Ambrin was also queried by Sri Ram about his meeting with Najib on Nov 22, 2016 at the Prime Minister’s Office.
“Najib through his former chief private secretary (Tan Sri Shukry Mohd Salleh) had called for the meeting to discuss issues in the audit report and I took the opportunity to alert him (Najib) about the different versions of the financial statement. Datuk Seri Najib gave me an assurance that he would get to the bottom of it,“ he said.
Sri Ram: When he (Najib) said, “I will get to the bottom of it”, did you believe him?
Ambrin: He was the prime minister, I had no reason to not believe him.
Ambrin admitted he never received confirmation whether Najib did actually get to “the bottom of it”.
Ambrin also testified that he felt cheated when he discovered that a police report was never lodged despite the assurance from Najib, over the two conflicting financial statements that were left out of the 1MDB final report.
“I wouldn’t know if Najib really got to the bottom of things at that time but I felt cheated, as I was given an assurance by him.
“On that premise, I agreed to drop the issue of the two versions (of the 1MDB financial statement) from the report,“ he said. — Bernama
