“That was not a correct description. I am against working ‘in silos’.

“In the government, we work as a team, unless it concerns OSA (official secrets),” Najib said.

He said that under his leadership, all Cabinet decisions were duly informed to the various ministries and agencies for execution.

Najib also denied a claim by his former special officer Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin that the PMO practised the work-in-silo culture during his tenure.

The court previously heard testimony from several former 1MDB staff members who claimed that the work-in-silo mandate had come from fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho.

However, the company’s former chairman Bakke Salleh said he had not heard of it during his time in office.

Najib also lamented the criticism he received from the opposition at the time over his administration’s hiring of international public relations (PR) firm Apco Worldwide Malaysia for the government.

He said Apco was hired during Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s administration and that he had merely continued using the firm’s services.

“My predecessors (Abdullah and Dr Mahathir Mohamad) started it (hiring PR firms),” he said, adding that during Mahathir’s time (1981-2003), the criticism was not as strong as there was no social media.

Najib added that Apco’s services were later terminated due to its high fees.

The hearing continues before Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah.

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