Bank Rakyat chairman Shukry sacked

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 27): Tan Sri Shukry Mohd Salleh has been ousted as chairman of Bank Rakyat’s board with immediate effect, as he is allegedly involved in the tampering of the original audit report on 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) when he was the chief private secretary of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

In a statement yesterday, the entrepreneur development ministry said Shukry’s ouster is in line with the Bank Kerjasama Rakyat Malaysia Bhd Act 1978, Section 5 under Schedule 1, subparagraph 2(2).

While the Act provides that the minister may at anytime revoke any board appointment without giving any reason, the particular 2(2) subparagraph also stipulates the minister shall revoke the appointment of the chairman or any other director if he has been found guilty of a serious misconduct concerning his office, has failed to fulfil his obligations or duties under the Act, or the rules and by-laws of the bank, or has been absent — except with leave — from three successive board meetings.

“In relation to that, any decision made during Tan Sri Shukry Mohd Salleh’s term as Bank Rakyat board chairman which has an implication on Bank Rakyat will be rechecked and cancelled if it affects Bank Rakyat’s interest.

“The entrepreneur development ministry will announce Bank Rakyat board’s new chairman appointment upon finalisation of the appointment process,” the ministry added.

Shukry is said to be a party to two key changes made to the original audit report prepared by the National Audit Department in 2016, according to current auditor-general Tan Sri Dr Madinah Mohamad in a statement dated Nov 24, in which she confirmed the audit report had been tampered with.

Madinah said Shukry, as the chief private secretary to Najib, gave the order on Feb 26, 2016, to remove a paragraph or paragraphs stating Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) was in attendance at one of the meetings of 1MDB’s board of directors.

Shukry was present when the first of a series of changes were ordered to be made to the report. According to Madinah, he had requested for the audit team to submit the final audit report on 1MDB for discussions with Najib, and was present when Najib ordered the removal “of [a] paragraph containing two versions of 1MDB financial statements for the year ending 2014, and directed investigations to be conducted by enforcement authorities”. 

The meeting with Najib on Feb 22, 2016 was also attended by former chief secretary to the government Tan Sri Ali Hamsa, and former auditor-general Tan Sri Ambrin Buang. 

The next day, Shukry had another meeting with the 1MDB audit team together with Ali and Ambrin, where the team was informed that the government had categorised the report as a “crisis”.

Subsequently, the 1MDB audit team had a few more meetings with Ali and Ambrin, joined by former 1MDB president and chief executive officer Arul Kanda Kandasamy, resulting in the removal as well as alteration of more paragraphs, before the altered audit report was printed on March 2, and presented to the Public Accounts Committee investigating 1MDB on March 4 and March 7.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on Nov 27, 2018.

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