KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 13): Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigating officer Nur Aida Arifin told the High Court during the 1Malaysia Development Bhd-Tanore (1MDB-Tanore) trial on Tuesday that she was told to halt her investigations into 1MDB in 2016, when Tan Sri Dzulkifli Ahmad took over as the commission’s new chief.
Nur Aida also said that former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had taken steps to remove Dzulkifli’s predecessor, Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamed, as the MACC chief, as a way to stop the commission’s investigations into the 1MDB scandal.
Najib is facing 25 charges pertaining to the alleged misappropriation of over RM2 billion of 1MDB’s funds in this 1MDB-Tanore trial, so named as it involves the investment fund’s transactions with Tanore Finance Corp. Four of the charges are of abuse of power, while 21 are of money laundering.
“Najib, as prime minister, had taken action that affected investigations into this case,” Nur Aida said, adding that Abu Kassim had stepped down from his post on Aug 1, 2016, while Dzulkifli had taken over the same day.
“Following that (Dzulkifli’s instalment as MACC chief), the MACC team investigating the SRC International (Sdn Bhd) matter and myself (investigating 1MDB) received instructions not to investigate this case or the SRC case anymore,” she said, adding that she was not sure who issued the instructions, but that she had jotted in her notes that instructions were given to halt the investigations.
When asked by deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib on how the change of the MACC chief was connected to 1MDB, Nur Aida said: “The change of MACC chiefs was to protect Najib from further investigations and from prosecution in this case,” she said.
During Tuesday’s proceedings, Nur Aida also identified and confirmed the voices of several individuals in nine separate audio clips that were played in court.
The clips were of conversations between Najib, his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, Dzulkifli, former Tabung Haji chairman Datuk Seri Azeez Rahim, and Najib’s former aide Datuk Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin.
The only voice Nur Aida could not identify in one of the conversations was that of UAE’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, who could be heard in several of the audio clips talking to Najib.
One of the recordings that Nur Aida identified was Dzulkifli’s conversation with Rosmah. This was prior to his taking over at MACC, when he was still with the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC).
He had called to tell Rosmah that the MACC’s investigation paper that he had just received, was bad for her husband.
Dzulkifli then told Najib the same thing — that the MACC had made “very bad” recommendations — when Najib joined the conversation later.
This conversation between Najib and Dzulkifli is said to have occurred between Jan 5 and July 29, 2016, before Dzulkifli became the MACC chief.
The nine recordings played in court were the same ones that were released by another former MACC chief, Latheefa Koya, during a press conference in 2020.
Nur Aida said the conversations in these recordings were linked to 1MDB, and that there was a police report by an Umno member at that time, who claimed there was a conspiracy among Abu Kassim, the former attorney general Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail, and the former governor of Bank Negara Malaysia Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz, to overthrow Najib and his government.
Najib removed Abdul Gani and Abu Kassim shortly after these conversations took place.
Nur Aida was testifying before judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah.
Najib’s lawyer Tan Sri Mohamed Shafee Abdullah is objecting to the admissibility of these recordings as evidence. Akram is set to submit on the recording’s admissibility on Wednesday (Feb 14).
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