This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on December 2, 2019 - December 8, 2019

EQUATING the interests of Datuk Seri Najib Razak to national interest, Tan Sri Ali Hamsa directed that parts of the National Audit Department’s audit report on 1MDB be amended.

The former chief secretary to the government was of the view that altering the report was acceptable and in the nation’s interests if it meant preserving the reputation of his boss, Najib.

This was revealed in an audio recording of a “coordination meeting” between 1MDB stakeholders and the NAD’s audit team, which Ali chaired on Feb 24, after he was tasked with ensuring amendments to certain parts of the report that Najib was unhappy with.

The recording revealed how national interest and the protection of the then prime minister’s reputation were used to justify material changes to the audit report, before it was presented to the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee looking into 1MDB, to prevent its use by the opposition against Najib’s administration.

Ali, who was the chief secretary to the government from 2012 to 2018, prioritised the stability of the administration over the disclosure of wrongdoings in the state-owned strategic development company that resulted in the loss of billions of ringgit.

In the audio clip, Ali was heard telling the other eight individuals present at the meeting that the report should be amended to ensure there would not be any political, economic or policy impact on Najib and the country.

Irked at the protestations of the then auditor-general Tan Sri Ambrin Buang, he reprimanded him by telling him to contain his disappointment and frustrations at being asked to exclude certain parts of the report and to keep his “diligent” junior officers in check.

“If there are any complaints, and then, the more we disclose, the more difficult for us to defend, especially the YAB PM. His name will be tarnished. If his name is tarnished, then nationally, we are tarnished also, politically and economically,” he maintained.

“So, that’s why I thought we can go through some of the areas of concern since Tan Sri Ambrin has kindly agreed that we can bring Arul [Kanda Kandasamy] here, as the representative from 1MDB ... so we can thrash out certain areas.

“We are looking more on the impact on the country and our leadership ... you know, from that angle,” Ali said as he began the meeting.

Ali argued for legal action to be taken against individuals involved in wrongdoing at 1MDB, rather than including such information in the audit report. “We are not here to do investigation. We are here to report the facts.

“For us, it’s basically national interest. We want to take care of our national interest.”

At one point, he suggested to Ambrin, “Tan Sri Sir (Ambrin), maybe you should manage your younger officers … we can see they are rajin … but for us, it is national interest, we want to take care of our leadership,” he reiterated.

Towards the end of the meeting, Ali suggested that the 60 copies of the original 1MDB audit report be shredded to ensure that there was only the final version of the amended document.

“In the end, there should not be two or three versions ... only the final version that had been agreed on should be there,” he stated.

Ali, the prosecution’s fourth witness, had previously testified that under Najib’s instructions, he had called for the Feb 24, 2016, meeting to coordinate changes to the auditor-general’s report on 1MDB before its presentation to the PAC as Najib was not satisfied with the contents.

“Najib instructed me to hold a coordination meeting between the National Audit Department [and] former 1MDB chief executive officer Arul Kanda Kandasamy and other officers,” he said, adding he did not know then what the problems with the audit report were.

At an earlier point in his testimony, he looked over to Najib in the dock before answering. That was when he was questioned by senior deputy public prosecutor Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram over the ouster of former attorney-general Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail, who was about to charge Najib over 1MDB’s dealings, but was sacked by Najib.

This prompted Sri Ram to say, “Don’t worry, you can speak freely. You are in a court of law.”

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