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Whistleblower withdrew complaint, then resubmitted: Witness
🇲🇾 Malaysia /Crime & Justice

Whistleblower withdrew complaint, then resubmitted: Witness

From Utusan Malaysia · () Malay

Translated from Malay, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources In the courts
  • A witness testified that a whistleblower previously submitted a complaint about leaked Petronas information in June 2024, but later withdrew it.
  • The official complaint was received by Petronas on December 6, 2024, through its Whistleblowing channel, but records showed an earlier submission from the same email address on June 8, 2024, which was recalled.
  • The whistleblower reportedly identified the accused as a colleague and a friend undergoing recruitment with Petros.

A witness in a Kuala Lumpur court revealed that a whistleblower had initially filed a complaint regarding leaked Petronas information in June 2024, only to withdraw it later. Lailatul Badriah Razali, a Senior Manager of Complaint Management at Petronas, testified that while the official complaint was received on December 6, 2024, via the Petronas Whistleblowing (WB) channel, internal records indicated a prior submission on June 8, 2024, from the same email address. This earlier submission, however, was recalled by the sender.

In the email received from the blower, the original email shows it was sent on June 8.

— Lailatul Badriah RazaliSenior Manager of Complaint Management at Petronas, testifying about a whistleblower complaint.

Razali explained her role within the WB secretariat involves receiving, recording, and managing complaints before forwarding them to the Whistleblowing Committee for further action. Following the official complaint's receipt, she presented the matter to the Chief Integrity Officer, Mohamad Zakkuan Talib, who chairs the committee. After a review, the committee decided to refer the complaint to the Human Resource – Industrial Relations (HR-IR) department for investigation.

However, our side only received this email on December 6 and not on June 8. Because according to it (email record), it states that he had already recalled (withdrawn) it.

— Lailatul Badriah RazaliSenior Manager of Complaint Management at Petronas, explaining the timeline of a whistleblower complaint.

During cross-examination by the defense lawyer, Louis Liaw Vern Xien, Razali confirmed she did not inquire further into why the whistleblower retracted the initial June complaint before resubmitting it in December. Liaw presented an email where the whistleblower stated, "The employee as per email below is a friend of mine who is currently in the recruitment process with Petros." Razali confirmed this statement, agreeing that the accused was a Petronas employee and a friend of the whistleblower.

The employee as per email below is a friend of mine who is currently in the recruitment process with Petros.

— WhistleblowerStated in an email presented during court testimony.

The accused, identified as a former Senior Manager at Petronas, is charged with attempting to disclose confidential upstream business performance and financial information (Q1 2024) to Petros. The alleged incident occurred on June 8, 2024, between 3:19 PM and 3:21 PM. The charge falls under Section 203A(1) of the Penal Code, read with Section 511, concerning the attempted disclosure of information.

Meaning he stated that the person who leaked the confidential information is a Petronas employee, correct?

— Louis Liaw Vern XienDefense lawyer, cross-examining a witness.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Utusan Malaysia in Malay. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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