KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 5): 1Malaysia Development Bhd former chief financial officer Azmi Tahir maintained in the High Court on Wednesday that he did not have full control of 1MDB's finances.

Replying to repeated questions by senior counsel Datuk Hariharan Singh Tara Singh — the defence counsel of Datuk Seri Najib Razak — at the High Court, Azmi denied he had dominion over 1MDB's finances although he had signed some of the deals and release for the funds.

He was 1MDB's CFO from 2012 to Dec 2017, and was also entrusted with directorship of some of the 1MDB subsidiaries.

Earlier in the day, Hariharan had pointed out that Azmi’s cohorts namely his deputy CFO Terence Geh Cho Heng, general counsel Jasmine Loo Ai Swan and fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho aka Jho Low had been charged with various offences in relation to 1MDB.

However, despite being the CFO during the relevant time, Azmi had not been charged.

Azmi responded that while he was investigated by the authorities — the police since 2015 and the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission in 2016 — he did not know why he was not charged.

Moreover, he was not served although he was initially named in the suit filed by 1MDB, as subsequently he and six others were withdrawn as defendants.

Testifying before Justice Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah, he denied Hariharan's suggestion that action was not taken against him in return for which he would provide incriminating testimony against the former premier.

“If I had control, I would use Edra to pay debts”

Pressured further by Hariharan, Azmi pointed to Edra Global Power Bhd which 1MDB previously owned.

The witness, who was the 12th called by the prosecution, said if he had had his way in 1MDB, he would have used the proceeds from Edra's sale by 1MDB, which he claimed amounted to RM20 billion, to reduce 1MDB's debts.

But, he said he did not have control over the company despite its mounting debts.

Hariharan: Even in terms of (1MDB) operations, as the CFO, you controlled the finances of the company and each of its subsidiaries?

Azmi: Yes, but I do not control every single sen, for example in terms of Edra, a power producer that a 1MDB subsidiary sold off to China General Nuclear Power Corporation, if it was entirely up to me (as the CFO then), I would definitely repay debts.

It is unclear how Azmi arrived at the sum of RM20 billon as Edra was reportedly sold to China General Nuclear Power Corp for RM9.83 billion in November 2015.

To another question by Hariharan over the transfer of US$175 million to Aabar Investments PJS Ltd, Azmi agreed that he and Geh had signed the remittance instructions even though there was no shareholder resolution to approve the transfer.

Prior to this, Azmi had testified that all instructions that came from Jho Low and also the late Datuk Seri Azlin Alias (Najib's principal private secretary) were deemed to be instructions from Najib.

The hearing before Justice Sequerah resumes on Jan 6.