Former 1MDB CEO Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi is pictured at the Kuala Lumpur High Court October 1, 2019. — Picture by Miera Zulyana

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 1 — Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi’s highest salary as 1Malaysia Development Berhad’s (1MDB) chief executive officer was RM99,000 a month and he once received a bonus of 18 months’ pay, the High Court heard today.

Shahrol said he had been paid RM80,000 per month when he first joined 1MDB predecessor Terengganu Investment Authority Berhad (TIA) as CEO on March 23, 2009.

Shahrol said the salary amount was determined by the company’s board, and confirmed that he had received annual increases to his pay while working at the government-owned company 1MDB.

Shahrol said 1MDB’s human resources department would engage external consultants every year to determine the amount of annual increment for the company’s staff according to market rates, adding that he could not remember if these varied every year.

“But my last drawn salary from 1MDB was RM99,000 a month,” he said, confirming that this was the pre-tax figure.

The bonus

Shahrol said he also received bonuses as 1MDB CEO, which was decided by 1MDB board’s remuneration committee of which he was excluded.

“And it is driven by KPIs set the year before and tabled to the board and approved by the board, and the quantum of bonuses correspond to the achievements of KPI,” he said.

Shahrol also said his 18-month bonus was a reward from Datuk Seri Najib Razak who was both prime minister and finance minister at that time, purportedly due to his outstanding performance as 1MDB CEO.

“That was bonus of year 2012 or 2011,” he said.

But Shahrol clarified that the bonus had been prior to his pay reaching its highest point.

Based on Malay Mail’s calculations, 18 months of RM80,000 would have been worth RM1.44 million.

A pleased PM

Prior to the monetary reward, Shahrol confirmed that Najib had expressed approval of his work as 1MDB CEO, following a phone conversation between the two.

“This was back in either 2011 or 2012, when I received a call in my office from the then private secretary to the prime minister, Datuk Seri Aziz who told me the prime minister was on the line. I took the call,” Shahrol said, referring to Najib’s then principal private secretary Datuk Seri Ab Aziz Kassim.

Shahrol said Najib wanted to know the status of the corporate social responsibility projects under 1MDB charity arm, Yayasan 1MDB.

“I was very excited and I recall during the conversation that I impolitely cut off Datuk Seri Najib a number of times as he was asking his questions, because I knew what he was asking and I had the answers and I was very pleased to be speaking directly to him,” Shahrol said.

Asked why he was pleased to talk to Najib, Shahrol said: “He was the prime minister. You don’t get the chance to speak to the prime minister every day of the week.”

Shahrol said that businessman Low Taek Jho had later told him that Najib had mentioned the phone call, adding that Low had then said: “Boss was pleased and Shahrol seems to be on top of things.”

Director’s fees

On top of his salary, Shahrol said he had as 1MDB director received RM179,000 annually as director’s allowance and RM1,500 for each board meeting attended.

Shahrol was 1MDB CEO from late 2009 until March 15, 2013 when he was transferred to government efficiency unit Pemandu and had ceased being a 1MDB director in 2016.

Shahrol, 49, and an engineering graduate from US renowned Stanford University, had said he is now unemployed.

Shahrol’s testimony of 1MDB showed that it was a debt-laden company that had to keep borrowing money backed by a government guarantee or letters of support from Najib as the finance minister, but with much of the purported investments diverted to fake companies or companies allegedly controlled by Low.

The prosecution had on Day One said it would prove money originating from 1MDB had flowed through companies or entities linked to Low before allegedly reaching Najib.

Najib’s ongoing 1MDB trial involves 25 criminal charges — four counts of abusing his position for his own financial benefit totalling almost RM2.3 billion allegedly originating from 1MDB and the resulting 21 counts of money-laundering.