Kuala Lumpur, June 8 — Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan said he believed then prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had in 2010 put him in a compensated role on 1Malaysia Development Berhad’s (1MDB) board of advisers out of the “goodness” of the latter’s heart.

Sidek said he believed that Najib did so because of the former’s “low” civil servant’s salary, and not due to his position as chief secretary to the government at the time.

He said this on his second day of testimony as the 19th prosecution witness in Najib’s trial over the misappropriation of over RM2 billion of 1MDB funds.

Asked by lead defence lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah to confirm that he said yesterday Najib offered for him to be on the 1MDB board of advisers due to his then role as chief secretary to the government, Sidek today clarified the move was to supplement his civil service pay.

“I thought the reason why the PM offered me, in all honesty, was because my salary — and I hate it because it appears in the papers again, My Lord, today — my salary, from what I said, the PM then thought it was a bit low for the responsibilities I had.

“I knew that because I joined Petronas after that,” Sidek told the High Court, also citing RM29,215 as his monthly pay as chief secretary to the government then.

“He thought it was a bit low and it should be compensated in other ways, so in the goodness of his heart — I thought that was the reason, this was just a vehicle to compensate for that lowness, so it’s not because I was KSN I was offered,” he added, referring to the chief secretary to the government role by its Malay initials.

Sidek had formerly served in the civil service for 38 years, and was the 12th chief secretary to the government from September 2006 until his retirement in June 2012.

Sidek yesterday said he had received RM30,000 as monthly advisory fee as member of 1MDB’s board of advisers from July 2010 until December 2012, which was subsequently reduced to RM10,000 per month from January 2013 until June 2015.

From July 2015 onwards, Sidek had stopped receiving any payments for the role. He was notified in May 2016 via a letter from Najib that the board of advisers was dissolved.

Sidek was Petronas chairman from July 1, 2012 until June 30, 2018.

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