Rosmah trial: MOF initially rejected application to pay Jepak RM130m - Othman
LIVE DAY 7 | The corruption trial of former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak's wife, Rosmah Mansor, involving alleged misappropriation of funds for the supply and installation of solar energy at 369 rural schools in Sarawak continues today at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysiakini brings you live reports of the proceedings.
LIVE DAY 7 | The corruption trial of former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak's wife, Rosmah Mansor, involving alleged misappropriation of funds for the supply and installation of solar energy at 369 rural schools in Sarawak continues today at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysiakini brings you live reports of the proceedings.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- Jepak threatened to stop supply of diesel to schools
- Najib rejected Education Ministry's application to pay Jepak RM130m
- MOF initially rejected application to pay Jepak RM130m - Othman
- Najib decided for solar project to use Education Ministry’s budget - witness
- Najib ordered MOF to negotiate directly with Jepak - Othman
- Defence requests to cross-examine Madinah tomorrow
- Madinah: Jepak MD's partner threatened to expose Najib, Rosmah
- Mahdzir told witness of Najib's pressure regarding solar project
- Madinah entertained Jepak's proposal because of Najib's minutes
- Former sec-gen puzzled with Najib’s haste for solar project execution
- Former sec-gen resumes testimony
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6.30pm - Thank you for following our live report today.
Reporting by Hariz Mohd. Photographs by Mukhriz Hazim. Social media updates by Ewe Linq Yenn.
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4pm - The proceeding is adjourned for the day, and is expected to resume tomorrow morning.
3.55pm - Seventh prosecution witness Othman Semail, who is the Treasury deputy secretary-general, finishes reading his witness statement.
The defence team informs the court it would not be able to conduct cross-examination today as lawyer Akberdin Abdul Kader, who is in charge to examine both Othman and former Education Ministry secretary-general Madinah Mohamad, is unwell.
Akberdin had gone home when the court broke for lunch earlier today.
Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan then agrees for the proceeding to continue tomorrow with cross-examination by the defence on Madinah.
He also tells Othman not to discuss his testimony with anyone as he will be called again to testify.
Jepak threatened to stop supply of diesel to schools
3.53pm - Treasury deputy secretary-general Othman Semail testifies that in July 2017, the Education Ministry was forced to release over RM92 million interim payment to Jepak Holdings.
This was the case as Jepak had allegedly threatened to stop supplying diesel to power 369 schools in rural Sarawak, which were relying on diesel gen-sets to operate.
Najib rejected Education Ministry's application to pay Jepak RM130m
3.30pm - The court hears that the Finance Ministry (MOF) had in April 2017 brought a memorandum to the then finance minister Najib Abdul Razak (below) for him to consider an application by the Education Ministry to pay Jepak Holdings RM130 million in advance for the solar hybrid project.
However, according to witness Othman Semail, who was the then head of MOF’s Government Acquisition Division, he had proposed to Najib to reject the application on several grounds.
These include the fact that Jepak was using insurance guarantee from a company that was not licensed, and procedures that only allow for advance to be given only at a maximum of 25 percent of a project or RM10 million, whichever lower.
Najib has agreed to this suggestion, Othman testifies.
MOF initially rejected application to pay Jepak RM130m - Othman
3.20pm - Treasury deputy secretary-general Othman Semail testifies that the Finance Ministry (MOF) had received an application from the Education Ministry in March 2017 for RM130 million advance payment to Jepak Holdings.
The witness, who at the material time was the head of MOF’s Government Acquisition Division, says the application was rejected by the division.
He says the application was rejected as some treasury rules were not followed.
Othman tells the court that a few days after his division issued the rejection letter, he received a phone call from the then Education Ministry secretary-general Alias Ahmad, who requested him to finish the steps to release the payment to Jepak.
Najib decided for solar project to use Education Ministry’s budget - witness
2.45pm - A witness tells the court that the then prime minister Najib Abdul Razak had in August 2016 approved the solar hybrid project to be carried out by Jepak Holdings in stages.
Othman Semail, who was then the Finance Ministry's acquisition division chief, says that the option was also for Jepak to carry out the project using the Education Ministry's annual management budget for that year.
Othman testifies that Najib chose the option out of five that was forwarded to the then prime minister and finance minister by the division.
Earlier, the witness also told the court that his division had suggested to Najib that he should not approve the solar hybrid project.
"In my opinion, the lack of allocation was the main factor to reject the application by the Education Ministry.
"Besides that, my division also advised Datuk Seri Najib Razak that the solar hybrid system must prove its effectiveness first before the project is carried out," he says.
Najib ordered MOF to negotiate directly with Jepak - Othman
2.25pm - Treasury deputy secretary-general Othman Semail (below) testifies that he received an order from Najib Abdul Razak on Aug 5, 2016, to continue with direct negotiation with Jepak Holdings for the solar hybrid project.
At that time, Othman was the chief of the Finance Ministry's government acquisition department, while Najib was the prime minister and finance minister.
According to Othman, Najib had given him the order through a minute, which Najib wrote on a letter from Jepak dated July 23, 2016.
2.15pm - The court resumes with the examination-in-chief by the prosecution on its seventh witness, Treasury deputy secretary-general Othman Semail.
12.35pm - The court goes for lunch break, and will resume at 2.15pm.
11.48am - The hearing resumes with the prosecution calling its seventh witness Othman Semail to the witness stand.
Othman is the Treasury deputy secretary-general.
11.35am - Court goes for a short break.
Defence requests to cross-examine Madinah tomorrow
11.32am - As the prosecution is done with their examination on the sixth witness Madinah Mohamad, defence lawyer Akberdin Abdul Kader requests to the court if he could postpone the cross-examination to tomorrow.
The counsel says he has been tasked to conduct the examination on Madinah, but is having a sore throat today.
Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan then allows the application and tells the prosecution to call their next witness.
Jepak MD's partner threatened to expose Najib, Rosmah - Madinah
11.20am - Former Education Ministry secretary-general Madinah Mohamad tells the court that between Oct 2017 and May 2018, she found out that Jepak Holdings managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin had a fallout with his business partner Rayyan Radzwill Abdullah.
Madinah says she learned this from text messages that Rayyan sent her during that period.
According to her, the text messages seemed like Rayyan was trying to hijack the solar project from Saidi and Jepak.
She says that Rayyan had also threatened her to get her assistance to arrange a meeting between him and the then prime minister Najib Abdul Razak so that Rayyan could take over the project.
"Rayyan also told me that he would expose to the opposition about the involvement of the ‘PM' and ‘Mem’ in acquiring the solar project if I do not help him," says Madinah.
Mahdzir told witness of Najib's pressure regarding solar project
10.48am - Madinah Mohamad says that former education minister Mahdzir Khalid (below) had in 2016 complained to her about alleged pressure on him by the then premier Najib Abdul Razak over the solar hybrid project.
Madinah, who is a former Education Ministry secretary-general, testifies that among the things that Mahdzir complained about was that Najib was upset with the project being delayed.
The minister was also worried about the financial and legal complications that the ministry would face if the existing gen-set contracts to supply electricity to the schools in Sarawak are cancelled to carry out Najib's orders.
Madinah entertained Jepak's proposal because of Najib's minutes
10.39am - Former Education Ministry secretary-general Madinah Mohamad says she would not have entertained Jepak Holdings' proposal for the solar hybrid project if not for the minutes by the then prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.
She tells the court that Jepak did not even provide breakdowns of costing for the project and details of its work scopes.
There was also no certified consultant appointed by the company for the project.
"This solar hybrid project was not even in the Education Ministry's development plan before this."
Former sec-gen puzzled with Najib’s haste for solar project execution
10.25am - The court hears from former Education Ministry secretary-general Madinah Mohamad (below) that she was puzzled why Najib Abdul Razak, then the prime minister and finance minister, issued an order for the solar hybrid project to be carried out without thorough planning and study in 2016.
Madinah testifies that from her experience working under Najib's leadership, she found Najib as a leader who is visionary, forward-looking and wise.
"Dato Seri Najib was always mindful with costs and needs for the execution of any projects."
Former sec-gen resumes testimony
10.15am: The prosecution wraps up its re-examination on former education minister Mahdzir Khalid.
The witness is then released as a witness.
Sixth prosecution witness, former Education Ministry secretary-general Madinah Mohamad, is then called into the court to continue her testimony.
10.01am: Trial starts for the seventh day with the prosecution resuming its re-examination on former education minister Mahdzir Khalid.
Examination is conducted by lead DPP Gopal Sri Ram and DPP Idham Abdul Ghani.
Today will be the seventh session of the corruption trial against the wife of former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, Rosmah Mansor, in relation to a solar hybrid project for 369 schools in rural and remote of areas of Sarawak worth RM1.25 billion.
Former education minister Mahdzir Khalid is expected to return to the witness stand to testify as a prosecution witness, under re-examination by lead DPP Gopal Sri Ram.
He was released as a witness temporarily last Thursday as Sri Ram was attending to another court case in the Federal Court before the prosecution called their sixth witness Madinah Mohamad to testify before Justice Mohamed Mohamed Zaini Mazlan.
Madinah, who is a former secretary-general of the Education Ministry, is also expected to resume reading her witness statement today.
If the examination-in-chief by the prosecution can be completed before the trial session ends for the day, cross-examination by Rosmah's lawyers might also start today.
Last week, she had given several explosive statements including telling the court that Rosmah had shown interest in the solar project and allegedly told Madinah personally to look into the matter.
This had allegedly happened during a Permata event sometime before June 2016.
Madinah told the court that she had also been contacted by Rosmah's aide Rizal Mansor and businessman Rayyan Radzwill Abdullah over the solar project many times.
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