Lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah today wrapped up the cross-examination of Shahrol, who has been on the witness stand since Sept 23, 2019.

The prosecution will call Shahrol’s successor Mohd Hazem Abdul Rahman as the next witness on Sept 7.

To Shafee’s question today as to how many “talking points” he had received from Low Taek Jho during his five-year tenure as CEO, Shahrol estimated that he had received about 100 of them, sent through emails and Blackberry Messenger (BBM).

Shahrol added that Low had told him to destroy the talking points in 2015 when 1MDB became a controversial topic.

To Shafee’s question as to why he had never checked or verified with Najib about Low’s purported instructions, the witness said he believed Low had been mandated to carry out the prime minister’s instructions.

“To my mind, the norm to keep Jho’s involvement ‘low key’ and to discuss issues from the talking points with the board of directors had been set since 2009,” Shahrol added.

He also told the court that when Low informed him to destroy the talking points, it did not raise his suspicions.

“I took it in good faith that he was protecting the prime minister’s interests and it tallied with the actions of other individuals,” Shahrol said.

Shafee: Would you agree if I suggest to you that Jho Low was the 1MDB shadow director and he was supervising the board of directors through you?

Shahrol: I disagree. Jho was acting at the behest of the shareholder (Najib). To my mind, these instructions came from the shareholder. Subsequently, the loop was completed as Jho furnished us with the formal documents whenever we needed them to be signed.”

The witness told the court that during his five years as CEO, he felt he needed to execute the instructions in playing his role as a member of the “PM’s team to move the country forward”. Shahrol, however, said no one threatened him to execute the instructions.

He was appointed CEO in 2009 when 1MDB was known as Terengganu Investment Authority. He left the company to join the Performance Management and Delivery Unit in 2013.

Shahrol denied he had “struck a deal with enforcement agencies” to testify against Najib to evade criminal prosecution.

“My passport was never taken from me and I was allowed to travel abroad this year. I disagree with your (Shafee’s) suggestion that I was Jho’s accomplice,” he said, responding to Shafee’s contention that he was a suspect.

Noting that Low, along with Goldman Sachs’ senior bankers and former 1MDB general counsel Loo Ai Swan, had been charged here, Shafee said: “You seem to be confident that you would not be the next accused person.”

In response, Shahrol said he had heard about the charges against them but insisted there was no wrongdoing on his part.

“There is a Malay idiom, ‘berani kerana benar’,” Shahrol added.

Najib is standing trial on 25 charges of abuse of power and money laundering over alleged 1MDB funds amounting to RM2.28 billion deposited in his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.

The hearing continues before High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah.

Before the hearing ended, co-counsel Wan Aizuddin Wan Mohammed made an application for the defence to recall Shahrol for further cross-examination as new issues had been raised by ad-hoc prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram during re-examination.

Sequerah said he wanted to move on with the next witness on Monday, and suggested to the defence that they could make the same application on another occasion.

“I hope you don’t take it as a rejection,” he said, adding Shahrol was subject to recall.