ROSMAH Mansor demanded to be paid a “consultancy fee” of 15% of a RM1.25 billion solar contract for Sarawak schools, the Kuala Lumpur High Court heard today. 

Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd partner Rayyan Radzwill Abdullah, the 16th witness in the former prime minister’s wife’s corruption trial, testified that Rosmah asked for RM187.5 million, or 15% of the value of the project, for her assistance in obtaining the contract for Jepak.  

Rosmah entered the picture, after Jepak managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin failed to convince then education minister Mahdzir Khalid to award the project to the company.

Rayyan told the court that sometime in 2015, Jepak obtained the diesel supply and generator set (genset) maintenance contract for 28 rural schools in Sarawak from the Education Ministry. 

He said Saidi talked to him about upgrading the genset to a solar hybrid system for the project and invited him to work with him in pushing the deal through.

When Mahdzir took over the helm at the Education Ministry in 2015, Rayyan said Saidi was confident he could get the project passed because of his 30-year-old friendship with the minister.

Rayyan said he and Saidi prepared a proposal letter for the solar project and met Mahdzir at Putrajaya, about one or two months after he became the education minister. 

Rayyan said that in the meeting, Mahdzir told Saidi that the solar project required specialised expertise that Jepak lacked.

Mahdzir was also of the view that the project involving 369 schools was too large-scale for Jepak to handle alone.

Rayyan said Saidi told Mahdzir that he had the capability to realise the solar hybrid project and that Saidi had shown Mahdzir a letter from a company in China, which he claimed was Jepak’s partner. Rayyan said this was done to instil confidence in Mahdzir. 

At this point, Rayyan said Mahdzir wrote a note on the proposal letter for the ministry’s deputy secretary-general that said, “Please consider for presentation”. 

After the meeting, Rayyan said Saidi complained that Mahdzir’s note on the proposal letter was not a “strong” recommendation. Because of that, he said Saidi didn’t give the letter to the deputy secretary-general.

Rayyan said it was at this point that Saidi spoke about enlisting the aid of an influential person to get the project He said Saidi considered getting the support of then prime minister Najib through his wife Rosmah, whom he would approach through her then aide Rizal Mansor.

A meeting with Rizal took place in Sri Pacific Hotel in October 2015, with Rayyan also in attendance. 

Rayyan said that at the meeting, Saidi told Rizal he wished to get Rosmah to persuade Najib to sign off on the project but Rizal rejected Saidi’s request, saying she would not ask the prime minister to recommend a contractor for a government contract.

As Rizal couldn’t help Jepak then, Rayyan said he was told by Saudi to contact the Pekan Umno division to reach Najib, who is the Pekan MP.

Jepak managed to secure Najib’s support through Aazmey Abu Talib, the Pekan division secretary, whom Saidi and Rayyan first met in October 2015. 

In December the same year, Rayyan met Aazmey to collect a letter for Jepak on which Najib had written a note as well as a supporting letter issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). 

Rayyan collected the letters from Aazmey at Hotel Vistana in Kuantan.

Najib’s note in the letter dated December 1, 2015 read:  “Bersetuju dilaksanakan sistem baru dan batalkan sistem lama” (Agree to execute the new system and cancel the old system).

Rosmah entered the picture after Jepak presented its proposal to the Education Ministry in early 2016 but failed to receive a response.

Dissatisfied, Saidi arranged a meeting with Rizal at the Lygon Bistro, Sunway Putra Mall, sometime between January and February 2016.

“Rizal agreed to convey the matter to Rosmah and advised us to offer a contribution between of 10% to 15% of the project value. 

“Rizal asked Saidi to start the offer at 10% so that it could be negotiated up to a limit of 15% of the project value,” Rayyan told the court. 

Saidi offered 10% at a meeting he and Rayyan had with Rosmah a few days later at her Langgak Duta residence, where the two men were introduced to her by Rizal.

Rayyan said Rosmah had responded to the offer saying: “The current political situation requires a lot of money” and “We’ll see later”.

The meeting lasted around 10 minutes.

After meeting Rosmah, Rayyan and Saidi met Rizal at Lygon Bistro again on the same day, where Rizal told them that the contribution to Rosmah needed to be raised to 15%, or RM187.5 million. 

Although Saidi eventually agreed, he at first told Rizal that the sum was too high and asked for it to be reduced because he needed to “take care of many more people”, Rayyan told the court.

Saidi also agreed to give Rizal a cut of RM5 million over a period of five years.

Rayyan testified that he and Saidi were then introduced to a man named Lawrence who they were told was an employee of one “Tan Sri Desmond Lim”.

They were told that all payments to Rosmah were to be made through Lawrence.

Lawrence helped Jepak to prepare an agreement to pay Rosmah a “consultancy fee. The agreement was drafted between February and December 2016.

The final agreement was made between Jepak and a Taiwanese company, the name of which Rayyan said he could not recall.

The agreement stated that the consultation fee was 12% but this was later increased to 15% after Jepak received the letter of award for the solar project.

Rayyan was allowed by the court to stop halfway in his reading of his statement when he said he felt unwell.

Rosmah, 69, faces three corruption charges, one of which is of soliciting RM187.5 million from Jepak managing director Saidi as inducement to help the company secure a solar project in Sarawak.

She is also accused of receiving bribes totalling RM6.5 million from Saidi in 2016 and 2017. 

The trial before High Court judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan continues tomorrow. – July 14, 2020.