KUALA LUMPUR – “Husni, I don’t want you to get involved and interfere about (sic) 1MDB”. That was what former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak told former finance minister II Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah when the latter advised Najib on the risks of 1Malaysia Development Bhd’s (1MDB) plans to invest in a joint venture with PetroSaudi International Ltd.
Husni, 70, when testifying in the high court here today, said he had voiced his concerns at the end of 2009 after learning from a Finance Ministry official that 1MDB had made a joint venture investment with the oil services and production company.
“I went to see Datuk Seri Najib in his office and told him that 1MDB should not enter a joint venture with Petrosaudi as the company was still in the process of oil exploration…and if oil is not discovered, then the investment would be ‘burnt’.
“I also told the PM (Najib) that 1MDB has no experience in the oil exploration field and it should be left to Petronas. But since he responded in that way, I kept quiet from then on,” he said when reading his witness statement in Najib’s trial over the misappropriation of RM2.3 billion in funds from 1MDB.
The 20th prosecution witness confirmed that the meeting took place between the two of them alone at Najib’s office and, since then, he had not been directly involved in any decisions or informed of 1MDB’s investments.
Earlier, Husni testified that in mid-2009, he advised on the risks of setting up 1MDB when he learned that the government had decided to take over the Terengganu Investment Authority and rename it as 1MDB.
“I met Datuk Seri Najib in his office to tell him that 1MDB should not be established without a feasibility study done. The purpose of the feasibility study is to make a practical assessment of a project proposal as well as risks in terms of business and finance.
“This study is very important to ensure that 1MDB’s investment will bring profit to the government. However, when I told the PM about the risk, he simply replied: ‘I will go ahead’. So I did not say anything else,” Husni said.
Husni also said that in early 2015 Najib had called him to resolve problems faced by 1MDB, which was said to be heavily laden with debts, but he (Husni) did not agree to it as he had never been involved in the company’s affairs.
“When Datuk Seri Najib continued to urge me to carry out the task, I met with minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri (Abdul) Wahid Omar so that he could take over (the task) but Wahid also did not agree to it,” he said.
According to Husni, together with his senior private secretary Imran Yasin Mohd Yusof, they drew up a plan called the “1MDB Rationalisation Plan”, and among his main tasks in the plan was to obtain information related to the firm, its financial position, assets, debts and matters related to company investments.
“Our role was only to draw up a plan but implementation was under the responsibility of 1MDB’s management and I was not directly involved.
“Based on financial statements that I obtained, I found that 1MDB’s debt on May 20, 2015 was RM48.571 billion while the company’s assets stood at RM49.895 billion,” he said.
Najib, 68, is facing four charges of using his position to obtain bribes totalling RM2.3 billion from 1MDB funds and 21 charges of money laundering involving the same amount.
The trial before judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues tomorrow. – Bernama, June 7, 2022
