Irwan attended no meeting despite receiving a RM25,000 monthly salary as a member of the 1MDB board of advisers.
The 2016 Public Accounts Committee (PAC) had recommended that two people from 1Malaysia Development Bhd’s (1MDB) top brass be charged over its financial discrepancy, the High Court heard today.
Former 1MDB adviser Tan Sri Irwan Serigar Abdullah, 65, said this was among PAC’s recommendations in its report on 1MDB six years ago.
He was testifying as the 42nd prosecution witness in Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s corruption trial of misappropriating RM2.3 billion belonging to 1MBD.
He said other recommendations were to restructure 1MDB’s financial status and pay its debt.
“I told Najib that I can do both two (restructuring and paying 1MDB’s debt). But the third one, it (PAC) recommended the authorities to charge both (1MDB chief executive Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi and Tan Sri Che Lodin Wok Kamaruddin), but he (Najib) kept quiet.
“Knowing Najib, he is a nice man,” he said during an examination-in-chief by deputy public prosecutor Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram.
Irwan also expressed his frustration over several criminal breach of trust charges filed against him.
“I was charged for paying 1MDB’s debt…when (Lim) Guan Eng took over as finance minister, he also paid the debt.”
Earlier, Irwan in his written statement said he attended no meeting despite receiving a RM25,000 monthly salary as a member of the 1MDB board of advisers (BOA).
He said he was appointed by Najib and received the allowance from August 2013 to 2015.
He said the payment was made in the form of 1MDB company cheque.
“After it (BOA) was ended, I received an allowance as chairman of 1MDB, also amounting to RM25,000 per month, but in 2016, the payment was made in a ‘lump-sum’ amounting to RM300,000.
“This allowance was also made through a 1MDB cheque.”
Sri Ram: Did you attend any meetings?
Irwan: For me, meetings were never held because I never saw BOA meeting minutes… Najib never informed me about any meeting regarding 1MDB’s BOA.
Najib, 69, is facing four charges of using his position to get 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. – NST