(Bloomberg) -- Former 1MDB President Arul Kanda was charged for his alleged role in tampering with a state audit report into the troubled fund.

Arul, who pleaded not guilty, is the highest-ranking 1MDB officer to be indicted in Malaysia’s revived investigation into the fund. He’s accused of abetting former Prime Minister Najib Razak in tampering with a government audit into 1MDB to protect Najib from criminal, civil or regulatory action, according to the charge sheet.

If found guilty, Arul would face up to 20 years imprisonment and a fine.

Najib is expected to be charged as part of the same case, after pleading not guilty to dozens of earlier money laundering and corruption charges linked to the fund. 1MDB, whose full name is 1Malaysia Development Bhd., is at the center of a global scandal that allegedly saw $4.5 billion misappropriated.

The state audit case was opened after Auditor General Madinah Mohamad said that a government report was changed in 2016 to remove Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho’s attendance at a 1MDB board meeting, among other alterations. Low, better known as Jho Low, has been painted by U.S. prosecutors as a central figure in the 1MDB scandal.

(Updates with detail on Arul’s charges in the second and third paragraphs.)

To contact the reporter on this story: Anisah Shukry in Kuala Lumpur at ashukry2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Yudith Ho at yho35@bloomberg.net, Liau Y-Sing, Stephanie Phang

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