Ex-1MDB board member: I stepped down over fund's future direction

1MDB TRIAL | Ismee Ismail testified that he stepped down as 1MDB’s board member due to concerns about the future decisions linked to the sovereign wealth fund.

During today’s RM2.28 billion 1MDB corruption trial against former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, the 13th prosecution witness claimed that he was worried about the sovereign wealth fund’s state of affairs.

Ismee served at 1MDB for seven years from 2009 to 2016.

He was testifying during examination-in-chief by deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib.

“I, as a board member, handed in my resignation letter in June 2015. The decision was made on the reason of worry and I no longer wished to be involved in future decisions to be made at the company.

“I handed my resignation letter to Amhari (Effendi Nazaruddin), who was the (then) special officer to the prime minister (Najib).

“Amhari asked me to postpone my decision as at that time the option to change the whole board was being considered.

“However, in 2016, all of us in the board and management of 1MDB tendered our resignations in light of the new board and management members appointed,” Ismee said.

Amhari previously testified in the trial as the eighth prosecution witness.

Proceedings before trial judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah is expected to continue until this afternoon.

Najib is on trial for four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering involving RM2.28 billion of 1MDB’s funds.

Besides being former prime minister, Najib also used to be finance minister and chairperson of 1MDB’s board of advisers.

1MDB is fully owned by the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MOF Inc).