A Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officer today produced the Malaysia Islamic Development Department (Jakim)’s newsletter which highlighted former minister in the Prime Minister Department Datuk Jamil Khir Baharom had officiated a gathering here on the day he was allegedly in Saudi Arabia.
This was in contradiction to Jamil’s testimony in court that he was in Saudi Arabia meeting the late King Abdullah Abdulaziz Al Saud on Jan 11, 2010, discussing about political donation which then prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was supposed to receive from the Arabs.
Assistant Commissioner Nasharuddin Amir said the February edition of Jakim’s newsletter also carried a picture of Jamil Khir at the gathering on that day.
The issue of Jamil Khir’s and Najib’s whereabouts was raised by the prosecution in the SRC International Berhad trial last week.
Lead prosecutor Datuk V Sithambaram had questioned Nasharuddin whether he knew Najib and Jamil Khir were nowhere near Saudi Arabia on Jan 11, 2010 but were right here in Kuala Lumpur.
Jamil Khir had previously testified that he was present in the same room when Najib met the late King Abdullah on that day and they had discussed political donations which had to be channelled into the accused’s personal account.
He had testified that the informal meeting between the two heads of state had taken place at King Abdullah’s palace in Riyadh and he had attended in his capacity as minister in charge of Islamic affairs.
When re-examined by Najib’s lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, Nasharuddin said he had gone to Riyadh to interview prince Saud Abdul Aziz over issues related to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) on Nov 27, 2015.
He said MACC officers were unable to record the prince’s statement and were unhappy about it.
He said the statement was ultimately signed by someone else although prince Saud’s name was written at the top of the statement. – NST