Giving evidence in the 1MDB audit report tampering trial of Najib Razak and Arul Kanda Kandasamy, she said she came to know that there were “two versions” of the report at a meeting with government auditors on March 16, 2017.
Madinah was the auditor-general from Feb 20, 2017 to Feb 22, 2019.
She said auditor Nor Salwani Muhammad told her the original report contained “material information” on 1MDB.
“She sought my instructions on whether the original report should be destroyed.
“I decided not to destroy it in the end,” she said.
The court had heard that Madinah’s predecessor, Ambrin Buang, and officers conducted their audit on 1MDB from March 9, 2015 to March 4, 2016.
The national audit department (NAD) was supposed to table its findings to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Feb 24, 2016, but the meeting with PAC’s members did not materialise.
Instead, Ambrin and several officers were told to attend a meeting at the then chief secretary Ali Hamsa’s office on the same day.
The others present were Arul Kanda, Najib’s former principal private secretary at the time Shukry Mohd Salleh, senior treasury officials and an official from the Attorney-General’s Chambers.
After the meeting, four items were removed from the report. These involved two 2014 financial statements, the issuance of Islamic medium-term notes, the Islamic bonds’ secondary subscriber, and Low Taek Jho’s presence at 1MDB board meetings.
Najib is standing trial for alleged abuse of power as the then prime minister and finance minister to obtain immunity from legal action and causing amendments to the finalised 1MDB audit report before it was tabled at the PAC meeting.
Arul Kanda is accused of abetting him.
‘Dr M asked for OSA status on 1MDB audit report to be lifted’
Madinah also told the court the 1MDB audit report was declassified as a government secret on May 15, 2018.
“The report was initially classified under OSA (Official Secrets Act) when I was told about the amendments and I could not reveal anything about them.
“However, the prime minister (Dr Mahathir Mohamad) made a media statement and instructed the OSA status to be lifted,” she said.
Besides that, Madinah said, her auditors were invited to table their findings on the original report to former attorney-general Abu Talib Othman, who headed the Council of Eminent Persons’ (CEP) 1MDB investigation committee on May 31, 2018.
“I had also made copies of the original report and passed them to the police and MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission) in August 2018.
“In the same month, I issued a press statement on the two versions of the 1MDB audit report and that several items had been dropped from the original report,” she said.
Madinah said that some time in November 2018, she briefed Mahathir’s Cabinet on the matter. The meeting decided that she could come out with another statement detailing the chronology of 1MDB audit report’s amendments.
The hearing is before judge Mohamad Zaini Mazlan.
Former 1MDB chairman Mohd Bakke Salleh is expected to testify later.