Then premier Najib Abdul Razak’s appointment of former chief secretary to the government (KSN) Mohd Sidek Hassan to 1MDB’s board of advisers was done out of the “goodness of his heart”, the Kuala Lumpur High Court heard today.

Nineteenth prosecution witness Sidek (above) explained that Najib thought his salary of RM29,125 as the KSN at the time was too low and needed to be compensated in other ways.

“In all honesty, I thought the PM at the time offered it (the board appointment) because of my...