Kuala lumpur: The Sessions Court was today informed that Petronas received a whistleblower complaint in December 2024, alleging that a former manager, Mohd Khairul Akmal Mohd Jasni, attempted to leak confidential business and financial performance data to Petroleum Sarawak Berhad (PETROS).

According to BERNAMA News Agency, Petronas Senior Manager for Complaint Management, Laila Badriah Razali, testified that the complaint was received via the Petronas Whistleblowing email channel from the complainant's personal email address at 10 am on December 6, 2024. The complaint alleged that Mohd Khairul Akmal sent confidential information regarding Petronas' Upstream Business performance for the first quarter of 2024 from his personal email account to PETROS on June 8, 2024. Despite the alleged incident occurring in June, the complaint was not received until December 6, 2024.

Laila Badriah, serving as the fourth prosecution witness, testified that she referred the complaint to Petronas Chief Integrity Officer Mohamad Zakkuan Talib, who led the company's Whistleblowing Committee. Upon review, it was decided that the issue should be investigated further by the Human Resource-Industrial Relations (HR-IR) Department.

Following Mohamad Zakkuan's directive, Laila sent an email to Wardati and Jumsuri Basri, the former Petronas Senior Manager of Industrial Relations and the first prosecution witness, on December 6, 2024, at 12.36 pm. During examination-in-chief by Deputy Public Prosecutor Noor Syafina Mohd Radzuan, Noor Syafina referred to an email indicating that the original complaint had been submitted on June 8, 2024, but was recalled before formal registration by the secretariat.

Explaining this, Laila stated that the metadata of the email confirmed it was initially sent on June 8, but only reached the company on December 6 due to the sender's recall of the earlier email before it reached the whistleblowing secretariat.

Under cross-examination by defence counsel Louis Liaw Vern Xien, representing Mohd Khairul Akmal, Laila admitted she did not inquire why the original complaint was withdrawn. She concurred with the defense's suggestion that the complaint might have been more effective if lodged back in June 2024 rather than several months later.

Mohd Khairul Akmal, 41, is accused of attempting to disclose a confidential document titled "Q1 2024 Upstream Business Performance Operational and Financial" to PETROS after acquiring it through his role as a Business Unit Performance Manager at Petronas. The alleged offense occurred at a condominium unit on Jalan Pinang between 3.19 pm and 3.21 pm on June 8, 2024.

He faces charges under Section 203A(1) of the Penal Code, in conjunction with Section 511. Conviction under Section 203A(1) could result in a maximum penalty of a RM1 million fine or one year's imprisonment, while Section 511 provides for up to half the maximum term prescribed for the substantive offense upon conviction.

The trial, presided over by Judge Mazuliana Abdul Rashid, is set to continue on September 22.