KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 14): Former treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah said Datuk Seri Najib Razak kept mum when told that 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) officials ought to be charged.

Testifying in the 1MDB-Tanore trial, Mohd Irwan said this happened when he met with the former prime minister after Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) had issued its recommendations on the troubled fund in 2016.

“The third thing mentioned specifically by PAC was to charge [1MDB’s former CEO Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi], and also the board chairman, that is Tan Sri Lodin [Wok Kamaruddin ].

“I told [Najib, the authorities need to] charge these two fellows,” the witness said. (The PAC had in fact only recommended that Shahrol be investigated, not charged. It made no such recommendations on Lodin.)

“But he’s a nice man; he just kept quiet. Knowing Datuk Seri Najib, he’s a nice man,” added Mohd Irwan.

The former treasury secretary-general lamented that it was he who eventually ended up being charged, although he was merely trying to restructure the troubled fund and repay its debts.

He said after the PAC made its recommendations, he told Najib that two things must be done.

“One is to restructure 1MDB; that’s what I have been doing, restructuring the whole 1MDB. Second, to pay the debt, so that we don’t cross-default. Because I paid the debt, you know, the previous government charged me unnecessarily, there’s a case going on,” he said.

Mohd Irwan was charged in 2018 alongside Najib with six counts of criminal breach of trust involving RM6.6 billion of government funds, consisting of payments to International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC).

Mohd Irwan added that when he took over as 1MDB chairman for a brief spell, the only assets available were the Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) and Bandar Malaysia and therefore, he had to pay off the debts and monitise the assets to make 1MDB “viable again”.

“When I took over, I also started paying [the debt] because if you don’t pay, there will be a cross-default and the country will be declared bankrupt. And I was charged for paying the debts.

“And the previous government, when Lim Guan Eng took over (as finance minister), he was also paying the debts, so I don’t understand the charge brought against me,” he said.

Earlier, Mohd Irwan told the court that he was promoted to the position of treasury secretary-general in August 2012 and part of his duties were to oversee MoF Inc companies.  

Najib is facing 25 charges over the misappropriation of RM2.28 billion of 1MDB’s funds.

The trial before High Court judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues on Tuesday (Nov 15). 

The Edge is covering the trial live here.

Users of The Edge Markets app may tap here to access the live report.