KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 20 — Former Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) chief executive officer Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi told the High Court today that he did not know why allegations made against him by the company in a separate suit filed in August 2021 had changed.
The 56-year-old was testifying as the fourth plaintiff witness in 1MDB’s US$5.64 billion civil suit filed in May 2021 against eight defendants, including former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
During cross-examination, senior counsel G.K. Ganesan, representing former 1MDB investment director Kelvin Tan Kay Jin, referred Shahrol Azral to allegations made against him in a suit filed by 1MDB against Deutsche Bank and other parties in August 2021.
Ganesan took Shahrol Azral through several paragraphs of 1MDB’s statement of claim in that suit, in which the company allegedly accused him of fraudulent breach of duty, fraudulent breach of trust and corporate irresponsibility.
When asked why 1MDB had levelled those allegations against him in the separate suit while calling him as a witness in the present proceedings, Shahrol Azral replied that the question should be put to the company.
Counsel also inquired whether Shahrol Azral had been summoned to testify in court, to which he responded in the affirmative, adding that his role was to tell the truth and not to assign blame to any party.
He also rejected the suggestion that he had entered into any arrangement with 1MDB in exchange for his testimony.
Ganesan: Now that 1MDB itself had accused you of these irregularities, you have no credibility as a witness here for 1MDB?
Shahrol Azral: I have no comments.
Ganesan: So you made a deal, to use an English colloquial phrase, to finger my client Kelvin Tan and Datuk Seri Najib?
Shahrol Azral: I came to tell the truth, not to blame anybody.
1MDB and its subsidiaries — 1MDB Energy Holdings Limited, 1MDB Energy Limited, 1MDB Energy (Langat) Limited and Global Diversified Investment Company Limited, formerly known as 1MDB Global Investments Limited — filed the civil suit on May 7, 2021.
They named Najib, 1MDB’s former finance director Terrence Geh Choh Heng, former executive director Casey Tang Keng Chee, former general counsel Jasmine Loo Ai Swan, Vincent Beng, former chief financial officer Radhi Mohamad, Kelvin Tan, and former chief investment officer Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, as defendants.
Last week, 1MDB dropped its civil suit against Radhi, with no liberty to refile. The company had previously removed Jasmine from the case as well.
The writ of summons stated that the plaintiffs, among other things, accused the defendants of breach of trust, breach of statutory duty, abuse of power and conspiracy to misappropriate 1MDB funds.
The trial before Judicial Commissioner Mohamad Redzuan Idrus resumes next Wednesday. — Bernama
