Mohd Khairul Akmal Jasni, formerly manager of PETRONAS's Business Performance Unit, sent a confidential document titled "Q1 2024 Upstream Business Performance" to two senior Petros officers on June 8, 2024, using his PETRONAS work email [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. The document contained sensitive data including PETRONAS's upstream operations, financial performance, projections, production figures, health and safety information, project investments, and asset divestment details [2, 5].
PETRONAS's Cyber Security Department confirmed that an initial attempt to send the file failed at 7:19 a.m. on June 8 due to its large size. The transmission succeeded at about 3:19 p.m. the same day [1, 2, 3, 4]. The recipients were identified as Datuk Janin Girie, group CEO of Petros, and Mohd Azha Abdul Jalil, Petros CFO [1, 2, 5].
Mohd Khairul Akmal did not have clearance to share the document externally, breaching PETRONAS's trust by leaking confidential information [2, 5]. PETRONAS investigators said the leak risked harming the company's negotiation position with Petros and could damage national interests by exposing confidential business and financial strategies [2, 3, 5]. Syakirah Mustapa, a PETRONAS official, said "The leak of this information could jeopardize the negotiation process between Petronas and Petros, potentially leading to negotiations that are disadvantageous to Petronas" [5]. Jumsuri Basri added, "His actions exposed Petronas’ confidential business and financial structure information, which could cause harm to the company and affect national interests" [4].
Petros denied awareness of the leak. A Petros statement said, "Petros is not in any way privy to the alleged attempted disclosure of information. We urge members of the public and the media to exercise due care and avoid publishing or disseminating any defamatory statements or imputations about PETROS or its officers arising from this matter" [6].
PETRONAS learned of the alleged leak on December 6, 2024, after a whistleblower report, and launched an internal investigation [1, 3, 4]. Mohd Khairul Akmal was suspended from December 9, 2024, to February 8, 2025, pending investigation [3]. PETRONAS also filed a police report due to the case’s potential impact on national interests as a government-linked company [3].
Sessions Court heard testimonies related to the attempted leak on June 25 and 26, 2026 [1, 6, 2, 3, 4, 5]. Mohd Khairul Akmal, 41, currently faces ongoing proceedings. The court is expected to proceed with further hearings following these initial testimonies.
