A DEFENCE lawyer in Rosmah Mansor’s corruption trial today accused the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission of being selective and malicious in its prosecution of her.

Lawyer Akberdin Abdul Kadir, who is cross-examining final prosecution witness Noornabilah Mohd Aziman, an investigating officer from the MACC, alleged the anti-graft body targeted only Rosmah because it failed to draw up charges against others who solicited and received bribes from Jepak Holding Sdn Bhd.

Akberdin said the MACC decided not to charge Pekan Umno secretary Ahmad Aazmey Abu Talib or former education minister Mahdzir Khalid.

He further said it even withdrew charges against Rosmah’s former aide, Rizal Mansor, despite possessing evidence of their roles in relation to the RM1.25 billion solar hybrid project.

“I say these charges (against Rosmah) are a form of malicious prosecution, it is a witch hunt. Those who were charged before (her) had their charges dropped.

“Aazmey was facing 20 charges but as of today there is no charge against him. We have not talked about Mahdzir Khalid’s charges yet,” Akberdin told Kuala Lumpur High Court today.

Noornabilah, 30, responded that she only investigated Rosmah’s case and had no involvement in the other cases.

Rosmah, 69, wife of former prime minister Najib Razak, was charged with three counts of corruption, one of which was for soliciting RM188 million from Jepak Holdings managing director Saidi Abang Samsuddin as an inducement to help the company secure the solar hybrid project in Sarawak.

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

Akberdin said the MACC was due to charge Aazmey with receiving close to RM2 million from Saidi and his business partner Rayyan Radzwill Abdullah in helping the company secure the solar hybrid but those charges did not materialise.

Earlier when Saidi took the stand, he said he offered Aazmey a RM50 million “consultancy fee” for his help to land the solar contract.

A series of payments was made to Aazmey in 2017 but Saidi said he could not recall the exact amount.

In Mahdzir’s case, Rayyan testified the current Tenaga Nasional chairman asked for a RM250 million kickback for helping the company secure the project.

However, Mahdzir later agreed to a RM60 million settlement.

Rayyan said the money was paid through Mahdzir’s proxy, Md Fuan Yassin.

Akberdin then put it to the witness that the MACC’s image, reputation and integrity had been tarnished because it decided to drop the criminal charges against Rizal, who was previously charged together with Rosmah in the corruption trial.

Lead prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram objected to this, saying the power to pursue or drop criminal charges are solely at the discretion of the prosecution, and not MACC.

“It’s not fair to put these questions to her. It is at the prosecution’s discretion,” Sri Ram said.

Rizal was previously charged with four counts of seeking and receiving bribes for himself and Rosmah amounting to RM6.5 million, for the project to supply and install rural school solar energy in Sarawak.

He was charged under Section 16(a)(A) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009.

However, the prosecution dropped all charges against Rizal in return for his testimony against Rosmah and he was later placed in the witness protection programme.

After lunch break, Akberdin continued to grill Noornabilah and asked numerous questions related to Jepak Holdings, its contract with the Education Ministry and roles played by various parties, eventually pointing the finger back at Mahdzir.

Noornabilah denied knowing much of Mahdzir’s investigation, saying she wasn’t tasked with the matter. 

Before the trial concluded for the day, the prosecution and defence agreed to have Mahdzir back on the stand for further questioning on October 20. 

Mahdzir was supposed to appear in court yesterday but he had been served with a quarantine notice by the Titiwangsa health office following his recent visit to Sabah, which will only expire on October 12.

The prosecution earlier asked Justice Mohamed Zaini Mazlan to allow the witness to be recalled on October 13 but lead defence counsel Jagjit Singh told the court that he will confirm Mahdzir’s availability. 

Today, both parties agreed to have Mahdzir take the stand again on October 20. 

Judge Zaini also agreed and asked them to prepare a letter of application for Mahdzir to take the stand.

Rosmah’s solar project trial for this month is only scheduled to take place over four days, starting on Monday and finishing on Thursday. – October 6, 2020.