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KUALA LUMPUR: A former Rosmah Mansor aide dismissed a defense claim that a political donation of RM 5 million to former Prime Minister Najib Razak had been pocketed from a company that won a contract to carry out the hybrid project solar in rural areas. Sarawak schools.
Rizal Mansor also denied a claim made by defense attorney Jagjit Singh that he obtained a “bonus” of RM500,000 from Jepak Holdings Managing Director (MD) Saidi Abang Samsudin and his business partner Rayyan Radzwill Abdullah.
The main witness for the prosecution denied during a cross-examination.
Jagjit: I tell you that the RM5 million was pocketed (on December 20, 2016) as a political donation to Najib.
Rizal: I deny the suggestion.
Jagjit: Saidi and Rayyan then came to your home (Dec 23, 2016) to pay you RM500,000, which is part of a RM5 million earmarked for you.
Rizal: Yes, to deliver the “King Musang”.
The witness added that the keyword “Musang King” was used to describe dirty money.
The defense’s position is that Rosmah did not request or receive any bribes from Saidi and Rayyan.
In his witness statement, Rizal said that Saidi and Rayyan had told him to inform Rosmah that they were offering political contributions because they were grateful to Najib for approving the project.
Saidi had also testified that he offered the donation to Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) through Rosmah as he was unable to meet Najib in person.
He said that he offered 10% of the total project cost (of RM1.25 billion) as a donation to help ensure that Umno and BN were politically stable.
Jagjit suggested today that Rizal had called Saidi a day or two before the RM5 million was delivered.
Rizal said he saw Saidi lower two luggage bags with the help of his driver and an escort after he (Saidi) withdrew the money from a bank.
Initially, the money was to be delivered to attorney Lawrence Tee at the Kuala Lumpur Pavilion, but there was a change in plan as the attorney refused to accept it.
Rizal said he then called Rosmah to narrate what had happened and she ordered him to hand over the money to Seri Perdana, the prime minister’s official residence in Putrajaya, as she was at her home.
Rizal said that two butlers collected the bags and went to meet Rosmah.
“She asked me ‘how much’ and I answered ‘five’,” he said, adding that he was indicating RM5 million.
He said Rosmah did not open the bags, but asked the butlers to take them to his room.
Continuing the questioning, Jagjit suggested that Rizal’s testimony about handing over the money to Rosmah was a lie and was done to reach an agreement with the prosecution to implicate the defendants.
But Rizal vehemently denied the suggestion.
However, he agreed with Jagjit that the RM 5 million was not given to the correct party.
Rosmah is charged with three counts of corruption for requesting RM187.5 million from Saidi as an incentive to help the company secure the project through direct negotiation with the Ministry of Education.
She is also accused of receiving bribes worth RM6.5 million from Saidi between 2016 and 2017.
The hearing before Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan is postponed to Thursday.
