KUALA LUMPUR, June 7 — Despite his position as finance minister II then, Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Mohamad Hanadzlah today said that he was told by then prime minister and then finance minister I Datuk Seri Najib Razak to not be involved in the Finance Ministry-owned 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) matters.

Husni, who was formerly the finance minister II from April 2009 until his resignation in June 2016, said this while testifying as the 20th prosecution witness in Najib’s trial over the misappropriation of more than RM2 billion of 1MDB funds.

Husni said he had met with Najib in mid-2009 at the Prime Minister’s Office to voice his concern about the setting up of 1MDB — through the federal government’s acquisition of Terengganu state-owned Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA) and renaming it to be 1MDB.

Husni said he had told Najib that 1MDB should not be formed without a feasibility study, but said then prime minister Najib had said he would “continue” with the plan.

“So, after he answered like that, I did not comment anything after that,” he told the High Court.

A feasibility study is aimed at making a practical evaluation of proposals for a project and business and financial risks, and this was very important to ensure the investment would result in profits for the government, Husni explained.

After 1MDB was established, Husni said he had received information from Finance Ministry officials of 1MDB’s investment via a joint venture with the company PetroSaudi International, adding that he had then gone to meet Najib again in the latter’s office at the end of 2009 to voice his concerns.

Husni said he had told then prime minister Najib that 1MDB should not enter into such an investment with PetroSaudi as the latter was still in the process of oil exploration and that the investment would be “burnt” if no oil was found, and that he had told Najib that 1MDB had no experience in this industry and that it should be given to Petronas instead.

“But what YAB PM responded to me, he said ‘Husni, I don’t want you to get involved and interfere about 1MDB’,” Husni said, adding that he did not comment further after Najib told him this.

“I confirm, since that meeting between the two of us with the YAB PM only in the PM’s office and since then, I have not been involved at all for any decisions or been told about investments by 1MDB,” he added.

Husni said he was not involved in the process of TIA’s renaming to 1MDB and that he had never met with Low Taek Jho and also TIA’s and 1MDB’s former CEO Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi.

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