BNM recommended RM23 million fine against 1MDB, Zeti tells court

Former Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz today revealed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court that the central bank had in fact recommended a penalty amounting to RM23 million against 1MDB, but the attorney-general (AG) then reduced the fine to RM15 million.

The 76-year-old witness said that in order to impose a penalty, BNM needed the consent or permission of the AG at the material time.

"The AG refused the amount recommended by us. We (BNM) recommended RM23 million; however, the AG reduced it to RM15 million," the 46th prosecution witness said when asked by Najib Razak's lead counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah at the former prime minister's trial involving alleged misappropriation of RM2.3 billion of 1MDB funds.

Mohamed Apandi Ali was AG at the time.

In her witness statement, Zeti mentioned that the inability of 1MDB to bring the monies back and to provide evidence on the status of the funds resulted in a compound being imposed on the sovereign wealth fund. 1MDB paid the compound on May 25, 2016.

Shafee: Were there any attempts by the then finance minister (Najib) to waive this fine imposed on 1MDB?

Zeti: I have no knowledge.

Apart from that, Zeti also insisted that AmBank informed her that Najib would be opening an account with the bank, but said the bank's managing director, Cheah Tek Kuang, did not tell her that there were expected incoming donations.

Once again, Zeti maintained that the central bank does not conduct due diligence on individual accounts, and that was the duty of the respective financial institution.

Zeti's testimony contradicts Cheah's previous testimony as the 39th prosecution witness in the same 1MDB trial, where the latter said he had told Zeti about the purported incoming "donation".

Cheah had previously told the High Court on Oct 4, 2022, that he had followed AmBank's chairman's instructions and went to Najib's house in early 2011 to help the latter with the bank account opening documents, where Najib claimed that there would be a US$100 million donation coming in from the Saudi Arabian government for him for Islamic activities.

Najib, 70, faces four charges of using his position to obtain bribes amounting to RM2.3 billion belonging to 1MDB and 21 charges of money laundering involving the same amount.

The trial before judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues tomorrow.