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KUALA LUMPUR: Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor tried to outwit the media by reporting the testimony of his former assistant who became a key witness for the prosecution, but the High Court rejected his request.
Datuk Rizal Mansor, who is the 21st prosecution witness, was reading his 46-page statement during the chief interrogation when the defense objected to certain parts of his statement that, according to them, were “highly damaging” and amounted to “character murder. “.
Lawyer Datuk Jagjit Singh urged the court to issue an order so that the media cannot report on the parties in Rizal’s witness statement, saying that the court must first make a decision on whether the parties are admissible or not. .
“The evidence has yet to be proven on admissibility. The parts of the witness statement are extremely damaging and should not be published as they harm our client as it is a pure character murder, ”he said.
Co-attorney Datuk Akberdin Abdul Kader also said that in the interests of justice, the media should not publish the parts until the end of the case.
Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan, however, disagreed and dismissed the request before ordering Rizal to continue with his testimony.
“I am not of the mind to prohibit the media (from) reporting. You (the defense) have the freedom to question the witness, ”said the judge.
In his testimony, Rizal goes back to how he first worked with Rosmah and subsequently discussed on behalf of Rosmah about the solar hybrid project contract that became the subject of his case.
He said that Rosmah was feared by those who worked in the public service because of her reputation as the “fierce wife” of Datuk Seri Najib Razak and was seen as the wife who could influence the prime minister’s decision and action.
“In the eyes of public servants, Rosmah has the ability to influence the prime minister to transfer government servants who oppose or challenge his applications to lower posts, or in other words, to ‘cold storage’, or have them transferred to places further away than where they live, “he added.
This perception accumulated during his time with public servants and Rizal said that at this point he did not believe it to be true and considered it only rumors that ruined the reputation of Rosmah.
“As his special officer, he would always defend his image to these people,” he said.
Rizal told the court that he was working with Media Prima’s TV3 when he went for an interview with one Datuk Seri Siti Azizah Abod in the Prime Minister’s Office for the position of “media officer of the prime minister’s wife.”
He was appointed Rosmah Media Officer in 2009 by contract, which was renewable every two years until 2018.
During those years, the official name of his position changed several times, such as Special Officer, Special Duty Officer, Assistant Special Duty Officer, and Senior Assistant to the Senior Manager of the Special Division.
Despite the name change, Rizal said the scope of his job had never changed, which was that of special officer to the prime minister’s wife.
In addition to managing Rosmah’s media relations, Rizal also worked on handling the controversies and bad publicity surrounding his boss and, in 2012, created a team of cybercriminals led by Rosmah.
“This team needed to refute and explain all the slanders and accusations against Rosmah to the public.
“The cyber hackers operated with funds given by Rosmah itself.
“She would give me RM100,000 in cash monthly to support the team,” he said.
Rizal also spoke of his role in obtaining bribes from Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd for Rosmah as the company sought Rosmah’s support in obtaining the RMB 1 billion contract from the Ministry of Education.
This included arranging meetings between the two CEOs of Jepak Holdings and their business partner with Rosmah and hauling RM5,000 to him in cash.
Rosmah, 68, faces one count of requesting RM187.5k and two counts of receiving a RM6.5k bribe from Jepak Holdings Managing Director Saidi Abang Samsudin as a bonus for helping Jepak Holdings secure the Integrated Photovoltaic Hybrid System , as well as maintenance. and operation of generators for 369 rural schools in Sarawak valued at RM1.25 bill in direct negotiation with the Ministry of Education.
The hearing continues on Monday.
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