THE solar hybrid project awarded to Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd through direct negotiation did not follow the rules and working process related to price negotiations, Kuala Lumpur High Court heard today.

Treasury deputy secretary-general Othman Semail, the seventh witness in Rosmah Mansor’s corruption trial, testified there were no price negotiations between the Ministry of Education and Jepak to get the best deal.

“Although the hybrid solar project was said to have been awarded to Jepak allegedly through direct negotiations, to my knowledge, the rules and working processes related to price negotiations were not followed before letter of award was released.

“More importantly, no price negotiations were made between the Ministry of Education and Jepak to get the best value for money,” said Othman, the Finance Ministry’s former acquisition department chief.

Othman added that there was no value management created for the solar hybrid project, which is deemed an important requirement for projects exceeding RM50 million, adding Jepak had set the valuation for the project from the beginning.

“The RM1.25 billion contract value of this project was set by Jepak from the very beginning and was accepted by the Ministry of Education.

“No value management was created, although it is required for physical projects exceeding RM50 million,” he said in response to a question from deputy public prosecutor Deepa Nair Thevaharan.

He said value management is normally implemented during the early and late stages of a project to identify government requirements and is seen as an optimal way of implementing a project without compromising the standards required.

He said that the value management approach is implemented in two stages: value assessment and value engineering.

On February 10, former education minister Mahdzir Khalid testified that Jepak managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin and his partner Rayyan Radzwill Abdullah were not happy about one of the clauses in their letter of award to fit 369 schools in rural Sarawak with a hybrid solar system.

The clause gave the Education Ministry rights to terminate the contract and reduce the number of schools involved, in the event they were connected to the national grid.

Mahdzir said Saidi had called Rosmah’s then-aide, Rizal Mansor, who told the former minister not to make things difficult, and the project was known to “ma’am”.

Mahdzir said he understood “ma’am” referred to Rosmah.

Mahdzir said he then instructed Education Ministry secretary-general Alias Ahmad to amend the letter of award to Jepak’s demands.

Mahdzir then signed the amended letter on November 10, 2016.

Lead defence lead counsel Jagjit Singh informed high court Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan that his co-counsel Akberdin Abdul Kader would cross-examine Othman and sixth prosecution witness Madinah Mohamad.

The defence will begin their cross-examination tomorrow with Madinah.

Rosmah, the 69-year-old wife of former prime minister Najib Razak, faces three corruption charges, one of which is for soliciting RM187.5 million from Saidi as an inducement to help Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd secure the solar hybrid project in Sarawak.

She is also accused of receiving bribes totalling RM6.5 million from Saidi in 2016 and 2017. – February 17, 2020.