KUALA LUMPUR (June 26): A leak of Petroliam Nasional Bhd’s (PETRONAS) upstream operations and financial performance for 2024 could have undermined its negotiations with Petroleum Sarawak Bhd (Petros) and put the national oil and gas company at a disadvantage, a general manager for PETRONAS told the Sessions Court on Friday.
Syakirah Mustapa, 51, who was testifying in the trial of former PETRONAS staff member Khairul Akmal Jasni, told the court that Petros would have gained access to PETRONAS’ upstream operational and financial performance, as well as its 2024 projections, if the confidential information he allegedly attempted to leak had been disclosed.
Khairul is accused of attempting to disclose a document titled "Q1 2024 Upstream Business Performance - Operational and Financial" to two senior Petros staff.
"The information included the company's financial strength, operational performance, production volumes and production issues, health, safety and environmental issues, oil and gas discoveries, project investments, as well as issues relating to the company's asset sales, including in Sudan," she said.
Syakirah, who was reading from a prepared witness statement as the second prosecution witness in the trial, said Khairul Akmal did not have the clearance or permission to share the document with any third party and would have breached the company's trust if he had leaked or attempted to leak it.
In proceedings on Thursday, a former senior manager for industrial relations for PETRONAS, Jumsuri Basri, testified that Khairul Akmal on June 8, 2024, at about 3.19pm, had sent the confidential document titled ‘Q1 2024 Upstream Business Performance’ via his work email to two email addresses: [email protected] and [email protected].
Although the actual names of the Petros recipients were revealed in court, no designations were mentioned. However, a search on the Petros website reveals them to be Datuk Janin Girie, who is currently Petros' group chief executive officer, and Mohd Azha Abdul Jalil, who is currently the chief financial officer.
In the trial on Friday before judge Mazzuliana Abdul Rashid, Syakirah, who was Khairul Akmal's superior at the time, said Khairul had not been given permission to share the document with any third party, as only members of the team had access to it at the material time.
"The third parties referred to were Petros employees Janin and Azha Jalil. I do not know either of them personally. To the best of my knowledge, Janin is a former PETRONAS employee and is currently the CEO of Petros, while Azha Jalil is the company's CFO," she said.
Syakirah testified that only Khairul had access to his company-issued laptop and that PETRONAS employees were prohibited from sharing their laptop or email passwords, as doing so would breach the company's code of conduct and business ethics.
She said that after being alerted to the alleged misconduct, she compared the document Khairul had attempted to send with the one she had presented to the upstream leadership team on May 10, 2024, and confirmed that the two were identical.
Syakirah added that, to her knowledge, the accused had always carried out his duties well, that she was unaware of any previous misconduct on his part, and that he had been involved in several important projects.
During cross-examination by defence counsel Louis Liaw, Syakirah said she was shocked and “very surprised” when she learnt of the alleged incident.
The trial continues on July 7.
PETRONAS and Petros are locked in a dispute over control of Sarawak's oil and gas industry, following Petros' formation in 2017. The dispute is now before the Federal Court.