Then chief financial officer (CFO) Azmi Tahir said this when cross-examined by Najib’s lawyer Hariharan Tara Singh over his control of 1MDB funds.
The lawyer contended that Azmi should have taken responsibility over the use of 1MDB money and that he should have protested if he had felt something was not right.
Azmi replied: “But this (1MDB) was not an ordinary company. I didn’t control every single sen.
“We used to have Edra (Global Energy Bhd) which generated income from its power plant business. If it (control of funds) had been entirely up to me I would definitely have used the money to pay up 1MDB’s debts.”
Edra Global Energy, a subsidiary of 1MDB, was sold to a Chinese company in 2015 for RM9.83 billion.
The witness said then CEO Mohd Hazem Abdul Rahman had once confided to him that the chairman Che Lodin Wok Kamaruddin at the time had informed Najib that 1MDB needed the return of funds that were kept in overseas banks in order to sustain the company’s operations and to settle debts.
Azmi said Hazem told him that Lodin was, however, ordered by Najib “not to touch” the funds.
Azmi also told the court that there was no reason for him to “name drop” Najib in order to justify any questionable transaction.
“If you are asking if I had ever ‘name dropped’ the prime minister, I have never done so.
“Before (joining) 1MDB, I was no one. There were senior and experienced corporate personalities on the board of directors. Would they have believed me if I had done so (used Najib’s name)?” he asked, refuting the defence’s contention that he used Najib’s name for his own benefit.
Hariharan then asked Azmi whether he had verified with Najib the instructions given to him by fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, who is also known as Jho Low.
“I sincerely believed he was the prime minister’s representative in 1MDB,” Azmi said.
However, the lawyer disputed this, saying that Low was never Najib’s representative.
“You mentioned in your witness’ statement that Jho Low’s instructions received the prime minister’s blessings. Therefore, what you said about ‘blessings’ was merely your assumption and had no basis, right?” Hariharan asked.
Azmi said his witness’ statement was what he felt about things in 1MDB. “It was our belief,” he added.
Contract not renewed
Azmi said he left 1MDB in 2017 as the company implemented a retrenchment exercise.
“When Arul (Kanda Kandasamy) came in, he implemented a rationalisation programme.”
Hariharan corrected Azmi, saying that he had left because his contract was not renewed.
Azmi replied that he understood the decision to not renew his contract was akin to “retrenchment”.
Azmi joined 1MDB in June 2012, while Arul Kanda joined the company in 2015.
The witness told the court he had been called to attend an interview for the CFO’s job in early 2012 by the 1MDB human resources department.
“I did ask the HR department how they had obtained my CV but they refused to tell (me),” Azmi said, adding that he did not meet then CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi and Low before joining 1MDB.
Najib has been slapped with 25 charges of abuse of power and money laundering over alleged 1MDB funds amounting to RM2.28 billion deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.
The hearing continues tomorrow before High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah.