This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on February 10, 2020 - February 16, 2020

The charges:

Soliciting a bribe of RM187.5 million from Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin in exchange for her help in obtaining a RM1.25 billion solar hybrid project in Sarawak in 2016

Receiving RM5 million in exchange for her help in getting the project awarded to Jepak

Receiving RM1.5 million after the company obtained the project

She stands to face a maximum jail sentence of 20 years and a fine of five times the said amount if convicted under Section 24 (1) of the MACC Act 2009

DATIN Seri Rosmah Mansor formed a tag team of sorts with her husband and former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to pressure former education minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid to approve a RM1.25 billion solar hybrid project for 369 schools in Sarawak that would benefit the couple monetarily.

Mahdzir testified at the High Court last week that his former boss Najib and Rosmah sought to get him to scrap an existing contract and to award a new hybrid project to Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd in 2016 even though he told Najib that compensation would be costly for the education ministry and that open tenders were a better method of awarding government contracts.

Mahdzir is the fifth prosecution witness in Rosmah’s graft trial, which started on Feb 5. Rosmah has been charged with soliciting RM187.5 million from Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd to secure a solar hybrid energy contract for rural schools in Sarawak worth RM1.25 billion, and of receiving RM6.5 million cash in bribes.

Reading his witness statement, Mahdzir said he was repeatedly pressured to approve and implement the project quickly, including by Datuk Rizal Mansor, Rosmah’s aide. Rizal was originally jointly charged with Rosmah but the charges against him were subsequently withdrawn by the prosecution.

Recalling a breaking-of-fast event at the prime minister’s official residence in Putrajaya on June 23, 2016, when Rosmah spoke to him directly about the project, Mahdzir said she had uttered a few words that he understood to be an instruction. “Upon shaking Rosmah’s hand as I was leaving, she told me something along the lines of: ‘Can you take a look at Cikgu Aazmey’s solar hybrid project? Speed it up.’”

Mahdzir said he had never previously been contacted by Rosmah regarding a government project, but added, “Rosmah’s authority was shown when she, as the wife of the prime minister, dared to instruct me as the education minister to look into a project proposal and speed up the approval.”

In his opening statement last Wednesday, senior deputy public prosecutor Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram said the accused by herself occupied no official position in government. “However, she wielded considerable influence by reason of her overbearing nature. She placed herself in a position where she was able to influence decisions in the public sector.”

This was confirmed by the first witness, Huzairi Zainal Abidin, director of Secretariat and Services Management Division in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

Huzairi told the court that shortly after Najib took office in April 2009, he was instructed by Najib’s chief secretary, Tan Sri Ab Aziz Kassim, to set up a whole division to manage Rosmah’s work schedule.

The department, named First Lady of Malaysia (FLOM), was included in the PMO’s website directory, and quickly became a public issue as many had reservations since she did not hold public office.

According to Mahdzir, he eventually discovered that there was a Team Saidi — comprising Saidi Abang Samsudin, the managing director of Jepak, Rosmah, Rizal and Aazmey Abu Talib (Pekan Umno division secretary) — that was working on getting the project approved.

After much pressure, Mahdzir agreed to let  Jepak carry out a pilot project for 16 schools in the Mukah and Daro districts and 12 schools in the Baram district.

But this was not enough. Between December 2015 and June 2016, his ministry continued to receive memos from the PMO instructing him to fully implement the project and to replace the old diesel generator network with a new solar hybrid system.

For instance, Najib had initially sent Mahdzir a proposal letter dated Nov 23, 2015, from Jepak, on which he wrote, “Agree to implement new system and cancel old system”.

And when Mahdzir did not acquiesce, Najib sent another memo in June 2016 instructing him to act on his initial instructions.

Pressure also continued to mount from Rizal and Saidi as well as his business partner, Rayyan Radzwill Abdullah. “I remember Rayyan saying to me something along the lines of ‘Why is it so hard for you to follow the PM’s orders? The PM has already given his approval, just listen to his order’,” Mahdzir said.

He said it was no simple procedure as the contract award needed to go through a technical process, yet he had been instructed to forgo the technical process entirely.

“The Ministry of Education had already extended that contract of service until Dec 31, 2016. The abrupt termination of the contract would have legal and financial implications for the ministry,” the witness explained.

Following a Cabinet meeting in November 2016, Mahdzir said he tried to advise Najib to hold off issuing the letter of award to Jepak as there were procedures that needed to be followed.

“Najib did not listen to my advice and further instructed me to act on his order,” the witness said.

The trial resumes before judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan on Feb 10.

Prosecution’s opening statement in brief

1 Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd sought a contract from the Ministry of Education to carry out a solar hybrid project to benefit 369 rural schools in Sarawak

2  Jepak managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin and partner Rayyan Radzwill Abdullah approached Rosmah’s aide, Rizal Mansor, to arrange a meeting with her

3 The meeting took place between January and April 2016 at Rosmah’s private residence at Jalan Langgak Duta, Kuala Lumpur

4 Saidi offered a political donation to Rosmah’s husband, Najib, in exchange for Rosmah’s influence to help obtain the solar hybrid contract

5 Rosmah agreed to a political donation of RM187.5mil, which is 15% of the total contract value of RM1.25bil

6   A sham agreement was drawn up by one Lawrence Tee to disguise payment and conceal the recipient’s name, but that agreement has since gone missing

7 In December 2016, after the Letter of Award was issued to Jepak by the Ministry of Education, RM5 million in cash was delivered to Rosmah’s official residence in Putrajaya

8 The solar contract was executed on June 20, 2017, after which the ministry released a series of payments to Jepak. Subsequently, Saidi delivered another RM1.5 million in cash to Rosmah at her Langgak Duta home on Sept 7, 2017

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