Investigating officer Rosli Husain said they only obtained a copy of the minutes from SRC International chairman Ismee Ismail last year.
“We could not get the original from Terence Geh as he had fled the country,” the 57th prosecution witness said.
It was revealed in court earlier that Geh, who was the director of finances at 1MDB, was involved in taking minutes for SRC International.
Rosli said he had reached out to Chee Soo Wern, SRC International’s secretary at the time, but was told that he no longer held that position.
“As a result, I could not get the original minutes of the three meetings held in 2013,” he said when examined by deputy public prosecutor Ishak Mohd Yusoff.
In his testimony, Ismee had said that SRC International CEO Ariff Kamil misled the board into believing that the company’s accounts for 2013 were audited although media reports revealed otherwise.
Rosli said he obtained copies of the minutes from Ismee when the latter came to the MACC office on the evening of July 18, 2018, to have his statement recorded.
“I told him that I did not have the minutes for 2013. Ismee told me he had a set of copies in his car,” he said.
However, the copies given to him by Ismee did not contain the signatures of authorised persons, he added.
Rosli also told the court that five potential prosecution witnesses had died during the course of investigation: Azlin Alias, Noriah Ahmad, Zainal Abidin Osman, Ahmad Norhisham Hassan and Izzat Isairi.
“I have extracted their death certificates to confirm their demise,” he added.
He said this to show that the prosecution was not suppressing evidence, and to prevent the defence from drawing adverse inferences.
Rosli said investigations into SRC International began soon after his colleague, V Premraj, made a report in July 2015.
“We classified the SRC International case under the MACC Act, Penal Code and Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act,” he added.
He said MACC officers then raided SRC International and its subsidiary, Gandingan Mentari Sdn Bhd.
Najib is facing six charges of money laundering and criminal breach of trust in the transfer of RM42 million to his account from SRC International, a former unit of 1MDB.
He is also accused of abusing his power as prime minister by giving government guarantees on SRC International’s RM4 billion loan from Retirement Fund Inc.
He was charged with committing the offences at AmIslamic Bank Bhd in Jalan Raja Chulan and the Prime Minister’s Office in Putrajaya between Aug 17, 2011, and Feb 10, 2015.
The hearing continues before Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali.