He said opposition members robustly grill witnesses during Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearings and only stop when they have exhausted their questioning.
“Therefore, it will be an exercise in futility to predetermine and set the outcome of the PAC hearings as no one can anticipate what the opposition MPs will be asking at PAC hearings.
“It is impossible,” he said in his Facebook posting.
The PAC is a parliamentary committee formed to examine reports from the auditor-general and scrutinises the government’s finances and money allocated by Parliament for public expenditure.
The former Kota Belud MP said if there was collusion and coaching, as alleged, how did PAC members, both from Barisan Nasional and the opposition, unanimously agree to strongly reprimand and rebuke the management of 1MDB, of which Shahrol was very much a part of.
Shahrol was 1MDB’s CEO from 2009 to 2013.
“Anyway, the case is still in court and all should wait for the cross-examination of the witness (Shahrol) before coming to any conclusions,” he said.
The ninth prosecution witness is expected to be questioned by Najib’s lawyer, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, on Monday.
The lawyer has also informed trial judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah that he would take at least eight days to cross-examine Shahrol.
Shahrol had testified he was coached by people close to Najib before attending PAC meetings, interviews with the police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), between 2010 and 2016.
Shahrol said Low, popularly known as Jho Low, gave him talking points ahead of a PAC meeting in 2010.
“He also arranged for me to meet two Barisan Nasional PAC members before the session,” he said when examined by ad hoc prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram.
“One of them was Abdul Rahman Dahlan, on what type of questions would be asked by the PAC members. Basically, I was to insulate both of them,” he said.
Shahrol said he was similarly guided prior to appearing before the PAC in 2015, after the 1MDB fiasco was widely reported by local and foreign media.
The witness said he had to meet Najib’s image branding officer, Farid Redzuan, first.
During these meetings, he said, some PAC members, including its chairman Hasan Arifin, were also present.
Najib is facing 21 charges for money laundering and four for abuse of power over 1MDB funds amounting to RM2.28 billion.