KUALA LUMPUR – The former Chief Secretary to the Government (KSN), Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan was reluctant to repeat statements about the allowance received by him as 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) Board of Advisory member.
The 19th witness on the 1MDB funds misappropriation trial involving former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said, what he revealed in his statement yesterday has appeared in many newspapers and news portal today.
Yesterday, Mohd Sidek said that Najib felt that his salary amounting to RM29,125 did not commensurate his responsibility. The latter suggested to appoint him as one of the 1MDB BOA with an allowance of RM30,000.
“Honestly I say here, all these happened because Datuk Seri Najib has a very kind heart. He offered me this post because he felt that my salary as a KSN was rather low. I don’t really like to talk about the things that were reported in the media. It was true that my salary was low back then.
“I was given this position and the salary not because I was the KSN. On the contrary, it was because of his kindness. That’s all. I also agree with the suggestion that I was chosen by Najib because I was in the eminent group,” he said during the cross-examination by defence counsel, Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee today.
Meanwhile, Mohd Sidek also explained about his statement yesterday that 1MDB was set up as a political fund for Barisan Nasional (BN) during the examination by Deputy Public Prosecutor, Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram.
During the reexamination before High Court Judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah, Mohd Sidek said that there was a discussion in the Cabinet and the ministers were encouraged to suggest how 1MDB funds could be used to fund the projects in their constituencies.
“Remember this, all ministers in the then government were from BN. I was an example of civil servant. The rest of them were from BN. Whatever government policies, therefore, came from the party or the coalition parties in the government.
“How to differentiate it? I find it difficult to differentiate the two,” he questioned the lawyer.
The proceeding will resume tomorrow with former Finance Minister II, Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah giving his testimony.
Najib, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) of Pekan is facing four counts of charges of abusing his power to gain gratification amounting to RM2.3 billion from 1MDB funds and 21 counts of money-laundering charges involving the same amount of monies. -MalaysiaGazette
