Whistleblower withdrew complaint about Petronas document leak, court told

KUALA LUMPUR: The sessions court heard today a whistleblower sent an email to Petronas’s whistleblowing unit on the same day a company manager allegedly leaked a confidential document to Petros in June 2024, but recalled it before resending it six months later.

Petronas complaint management senior manager Lailatul Badriah Razali, 44, said that after receiving the email at about 10am on Dec 6, 2024, she referred the matter to whistleblowing committee chairman Zakkuan Talib, who instructed her to forward the complaint to the human resources (industrial relations) department.

Lailatul was testifying as the fourth prosecution witness in the trial of former Petronas manager Khairul Akmal Jasni, 41.

Khairul is accused of attempting to disclose a document titled “Q1 2024 Upstream Business Performance – Operational and Financial” to Petros on June 8, 2024.

During examination-in-chief by deputy public prosecutor Noor Syafina Radzuan, Lailatul testified that the email trail showed the whistleblower had originally sent the complaint to the whistleblowing unit on June 8.

Syafina: Based on the whistleblowing secretariat’s records, the complainant emailed the complaint on June 8?

Lailatul: The original email shows it was sent at 8.10pm on June 8.

Cross-examined by defence counsel Louis Liaw, Lailatul agreed that she did not ask the whistleblower why the original email was recalled.

She confirmed that the whistleblower had forwarded the same email to her six months later.

She also confirmed that the whistleblower had stated in the email that Khairul was undergoing a recruitment process with Petros.

Lailatul also agreed with Liaw that under Petronas’s Code of Conduct and Business Ethics, employees have a duty to report any breach of company policies in good faith and without malicious intent.

Liaw: In handling this matter, did you check whether the whistleblower lodged the complaint in good faith?

Lailatul: That’s not my part.

Liaw: If the whistleblower knew an employee had committed misconduct, he or she should have reported it immediately. In this case, it should have been reported in June. Is that right?

Lailatul: That is right.

Khairul is charged with attempting to disclose the document, which he allegedly obtained in the course of his duties at Petronas, to Petros.

The offence was allegedly committed at B-6-10, Marc Service Residence at Jalan Pinang, Dang Wangi here between 3.19pm and 3.21pm on June 8, 2024.

He was charged under Section 203A(1) read with Section 511 of the Penal Code, which carries a fine of not less than RM1 million, imprisonment of up to one year, or both, upon conviction.

The prosecution is expected to call five more witnesses.

The hearing before judge Mazuliana Abdul Rashid will continue on Sept 22.