Court hears that Rosmah's ex-aide demanded Umrah sponsorship from Jepak
ROSMAH TRIAL | Rosmah Mansor’s former aid Rizal Mansor had pressured a businessperson to get Jepak Holdings to sponsor his family's trip to perform the Umrah in Mekah, the court heard today.
Rayyan Radzwill Abdullah, the 16th prosecution witness in Rosmah's corruption trial and a former business partner of Jepak Holdings, said Rizal (photo, above) had pressured him to get the money from Jepak Holdings managing director (MD) Saidi Abang Samsudin.
ROSMAH TRIAL | Rosmah Mansor’s former aid Rizal Mansor had pressured a businessperson to get Jepak Holdings to sponsor his family's trip to perform the Umrah in Mekah, the court heard today.
Rayyan Radzwill Abdullah, the 16th prosecution witness in Rosmah's corruption trial and a former Jepak Holdings business partner, said Rizal (photo, above) had pressured him to get the money from Jepak Holdings managing director (MD) Saidi Abang Samsudin.
During cross-examination by Rosmah’s defence counsel, Akberdin Abdul Kader at the Kuala Lumpur High Court today, Rayyan was responding to questions about payments allegedly received by Rizal from Jepak Holdings between 2016 and 2017.
Rayyan said he was unaware of the suggested payments amounting to RM350,000 in seven trenches of RM50,000 each.
“I am not aware…but there was once he went for Umrah,” he said, recalling how Rizal asked him to convince Saidi to sponsor the trip.
“He was pressuring me so because it’s for Umrah, I asked him (Saidi) to give and Saidi agreed,” said Rayyan.
He said Saidi, however, did not disclose the amount given to Rizal.
Rayyan also confirmed his previous testimony that he had accompanied Saidi to Rizal’s house in Segambut on Dec 23, 2016, and made a payment of RM500,000 as a “reward” for helping Jepak Holdings secure the Education Ministry’s solar hybrid project.
He further agreed to Akberdin’s suggestion that he had repeatedly advised Saidi to be careful in handling cash, including when dealing with Rizal who was said to have used Rosmah's name to get money.
To questions on his meeting at Rosmah's house in Sept 2017, Rayyan reiterated he had no knowledge that Saidi had brought along cash amounting to RM1.5 million until he was told about it after they left.
Earlier, Rayyan disagreed with Akberdin’s suggestion that three high profile individuals - then education minister Mahdzir Khalid, then education ministry secretary-general Madinah Mohamad and her replacement, Alias Ahmad - had “colluded” with Jepak Holdings.
“I am not aware of any collusion, but they did protect Jepak Holdings,” he said, claiming that it resulted in no actions being taken against complaints related to the installation of solar energy panels at 369 rural schools in rural Sarawak.
Proceedings before judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan continues tomorrow morning.
Rosmah, the wife of former premier Najib Abdul Razak, is facing three charges pertaining to the alleged misappropriation of funds for the supply and installation of solar energy panels at 369 rural schools in rural Sarawak for the Education Ministry.
Rosmah faces one count of soliciting RM187.5 million and two charges of receiving a bribe of RM6.5 million from Saidi as a reward for helping the company secure the RM1.25 billion project obtained through direct negotiations with the ministry.
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