The Sessions Court was told on Wednesday that a former Petronas manager allegedly sent confidential business and financial information belonging to the national oil company to Petroleum Sarawak Berhad (PETROS).
Petronas Senior Manager of Complaint Management, Laila Badriah Razali, testified that the company received a whistleblower complaint on Dec 6, 2024, alleging that former Petronas manager Mohd Khairul Akmal Mohd Jasni had emailed confidential first-quarter 2024 Upstream Business performance information to PETROS using his personal email account.
Laila, the fourth prosecution witness, said the complaint was submitted through Petronas’ whistleblowing channel at 10am on Dec 6, 2024, although the email records indicated it had originally been sent on June 8, 2024, before being recalled.
According to the complaint, the confidential information was sent to two email addresses on June 8, 2024. However, Petronas only received the complaint on Dec 6, 2024, and had not received any similar reports before then.
She told the court that after receiving the complaint, she referred the matter to Petronas Chief Integrity Officer Mohamad Zakkuan Talib, who chaired the company’s Whistleblowing Committee.
Following an initial review, the committee decided to refer the complaint to the Human Resource-Industrial Relations (HR-IR) department for further investigation.
During cross-examination, Laila acknowledged that she did not ask the whistleblower why the original complaint submitted on June 8 had been withdrawn. She also agreed that the complaint should ideally have been lodged in June 2024 instead of several months later.
Mohd Khairul Akmal, 41, is charged with attempting to disclose a document titled “Q1 2024 Upstream Business Performance Operational & Financial” to PETROS at a condominium unit along Jalan Pinang between 3.19pm and 3.21pm on June 8, 2024.
He is charged under Section 203A(1) of the Penal Code, read together with Section 511, which carries a maximum fine of RM1 million or imprisonment of up to one year upon conviction. Section 511 provides for a sentence of up to half of the maximum punishment for the principal offence.
The trial before Sessions Court Judge Mazuliana Abdul Rashid will resume on Sept 22.
