Zeti denies 2015 1MDB task force’s aims were to charge Najib and change govt

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 14 — The government task force on 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) in 2015 was not set up with the aim of charging then prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak or to cause a change in the federal government, Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz told the High Court today.

Former Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor Zeti said this while testifying as the 46th prosecution witness in Najib’s trial, where RM2.26 billion of 1MDB funds were alleged to have entered Najib’s personal bank accounts.

Najib’s lead defence lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah zeroed in on the 2015 task force composed of the task force’s then head attorney-general Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail, then Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamed, then inspector-general of police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar, and Zeti.

Asked by Shafee on the task force that was also disbanded in the same year, Zeti said BNM played a supporting role while the law enforcement agencies had a major role in looking at 1MDB, saying: “The ultimate aim was to look into whether 1MDB had committed any wrongdoing and recoveries of the monies.”

Shafee then tried to suggest that the task force was aimed at getting Najib charged, but Zeti said the task force did not even know in 2015 that Najib’s bank account funds were linked to 1MDB.

Shafee: I’m putting it to you, the real reason behind that formation and you were aware of it, was to find a way to charge the serving prime minister and to cause a change in the government.

Zeti: That is not correct. When the task force first met, I believe it was something like June 9, 2015, there was no knowledge on anyone’s part including Bank Negara that there was a connection between 1MDB and the monies in the prime minister’s account. So that’s not correct.

Shafee: I’m putting it to you, that is not true because by then MACC was secretly investigating the PM.

Zeti: Not to our knowledge, and certainly it was not mentioned in any of the task force meetings. The task force was to investigate 1MDB, because of the concern of the implications of the high level of indebtedness of 1MDB and if 1MDB were to default, that the implications on our country would be generational, not only to the current people living, but their children and grandchildren. It has happened in many other countries and that was the motivation of setting up the task force, so I was informed.

Zeti said BNM’s supporting role in the task force was to look at the financial and economic implications of 1MDB’s debt, agreeing with Shafee that she would not know the full impact of what the three other task force members are doing.

Shafee suggested that then IGP Khalid had moved away from the task force because he allegedly “knew there’s something rotten”, but Zeti said she was not aware of this claim.

Shafee also claimed that there were “drafts of charges levied against the serving prime minister that was found in the possession of a serving DPP when they raided, DPP of MACC”, but Zeti said: “No, I’m not aware.”

Shafee claimed that the task force was disbanded in 2015 as the attorney general purportedly did not have the Cabinet’s consent when he formed the task force under Article 145 of the Federal Constitution, but Zeti said she has no knowledge about this claim.

Previously, Zeti had testified that the government taskforce on 1MDB was terminated after Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali had replaced Abdul Gani as the attorney general, and that the Attorney General’s Chambers under Apandi had decided against pressing charges against 1MDB despite BNM’s recommendations to do so over false information provided by 1MDB for the sending of money out of Malaysia.

Later, Zeti pointed out the task force’s probe in 2015 was on 1MDB and not Najib: “At that time, the investigation was on 1MDB and not on the prime minister. And it was not known until much later that there was a connection.”

Later, at one point during the trial, Zeti made it clear that BNM officials “remain non-aligned”.

“That is the principle in the bank. We do not have any close association with any politician. They function in the interest of the people of the country,” she said.

Earlier when Shafee had suggested that Zeti might have been in conflict of interest in relation to 1MDB due to allegations linked to her family’s company’s accounts, Zeti disagreed and said BNM under her time had pressed for the prosecution of 1MDB.

“I don’t agree, that is not correct, because Bank Negara has taken every action possible on 1MDB and that’s in my statement. So if there was a conflict of interest, where would it be? We submitted an investigation paper for 1MDB to be charged, and its senior officials,” she said, having also reiterated that her family never took a single cent of 1MDB funds.

The lawyers representing BNM in holding a watching brief today in the 1MDB trial are G. Rajasingam, Nik Azila Shuhada Nik Abdullah, Justin Tong Wei Hang and Ong Tze Xian.

Lawyer Datuk Joshua Kevin Sathiaseelan held a watching brief for Zeti.

Najib’s 1MDB trial before judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah resumes tomorrow, with Shafee expected to continue cross-examining Zeti.