KUALA LUMPUR : Tan Sri Ismee Ismail told the High Court today that he wanted to quit as a board director of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) back in 2015 as he no longer wanted any part in the decisions being made by the state-owned investment firm.
The 57-year-old prosecution witness said he submitted his resignation letter to Datuk Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin, whom he described as the private secretary to then prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in June 2015.
“I made this decision due to being worried and not wanting to be involved anymore in future decisions that will be made by that company. But this resignation letter was not accepted,” Ismee told the court.
“Datuk Amhari asked me to postpone my decision at that time as one of the options being considered was to change the entire board of directors,” Ismee said.
.JPG "Datuk Seri Najib Razak is pictured leaving the Kuala Lumpur High Court November 10,2021. — Picture by Meira Zulyana")
“But in 2016, all of us in the 1MDB board of directors and management resigned, since a new board of directors and management was appointed,” he added.
Ismee was testifying as the 13th prosecution witness in Najib’s trial involving alleged power abuse and money laundering charges in relation to more than RM2 billion of 1MDB funds.
Ismee had been a director at 1MDB’s predecessor Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA) after it was set up in 2009, and had continued to be a director in 1MDB after TIA was renamed as 1MDB the same year.
Amhari, a former special officer of Najib, had previously also testified in this trial as the eighth prosecution witness.
By : IDA LIM – MALAY MAIL
The Stringer 