National Audit Department (NAD) director Nor Salwani Muhammad told the High Court that her nomination for Datukship was submitted before she was due to testify in November 2019.
Najib’s lawyer, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah pointed out that former federal territories minister Khalid Abdul Samad had told the media last year that the then government nominated Salwani in appreciation for “keeping the original 1MDB audit report, although she was told to destroy it”.
Salwani was among 25 individuals who received their Datukships during the Federal Territories Day celebration in February 2020.
Shafee then asked: “Did you know what he (Khalid) said?”
Salwani replied: “I was nominated because of my service in NAD and the FT ministry for the past 30 years.”
High Court Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan interjected, saying the defence should “not dwell too much” on Khalid’s statement in the media.
“It is not fair for you to ask her about what the former minister previously said,” he added.
Salwani then told the court that she appreciated Khalid’s remarks but she disagreed with his justification for her nomination.
The witness also reiterated she had no intention of hiding a recorder at the meeting on Feb 24, 2016 between her NAD superiors, then-chief secretary to the government Ali Hamsa, Najib’s principal private secretary at the time, Shukry Mohd Salleh, senior treasury officials, an official from the Attorney-General’s Chambers and former 1MDB chief executive officer Arul Kanda Kandasamy.
“We were told to leave the meeting room hastily before the KSN (chief secretary) walked into the meeting.
“I had no intention of doing something out of the ordinary and against my code of ethics,” Salwani said.
The court heard that after the Feb 24 meeting, the government auditors agreed to remove four items, including two sets of financial statements, from the 1MDB final audit report.
NAD tabled its 1MDB findings before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) from March 4 to 7, 2016.
Najib is accused of abusing his power in order to obtain immunity from legal action and causing amendments to the finalised 1MDB audit report before it was tabled to the PAC. Arul Kanda is accused of abetting him.
The hearing continues on Aug 11 and 12.