Ex Aide Rosmah Never Solicited Money From Jepak For Herself

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ROSMAH TRIAL | A former aide to Rosmah Mansor told the Kuala Lumpur High Court today that the latter had never solicited money for herself as a reward to help Jepak Holdings secure the RM1.25 billion solar hybrid project for 369 rural schools in Sarawak
Rizal Mansor, who is the 21st witness in the corruption trial involving former premier Najib Abdul Razak's wife, agreed with defence counsel Jagjit Singh during cross-examination on the matter
Jagjit: I put it to you that Rosmah never sought or solicited money for herself
Rizal: Agree
Jagjit: Can you confirm that Rosmah had never sought or solicited money directly from Saidi and Rayyan
Rizal: Yes
Jagjit: Can you confirm that you had arranged a meeting between Saidi, Rayyan, and Rosmah only for political donation (purpose) and your duty is just to get Rosmah involved
Rizal: Yes
Jagjit: Despite you getting her involved, she never at any time asked or solicited for money
Rizal: Yes
Saidi Abang Samsudin is the managing director of Jepak Holdings while Rayyan Radzwill Abdullah is his business partner
Rizal MansorRosmah 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 Sarawak for the Education Ministry
She 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
Previously, Saidi, who was the 17th witness, had told the High Court that he had offered a political donation to Najib as the prime minister to ensure he secured the solar project
He had claimed to have made a decision to hand over the donation to Rosmah as Najib was busy
He and Rayyan are said to have offered to pay 15 percent of RM1.25 billion as agreed by Rizal on behalf of Rosmah in two separate meetings which took place at Najib's residence at Langgak Duta and Lygon Cafe, Sunway Putra Mall
Meanwhile, Jagjit also suggested that Rizal had conspired with the prosecution in this case after the latter purportedly furnished contradicting statements
Rizal, however, refuted the claims
When asked on how he could own a bungalow worth RM3.5 million and several luxury cars when his monthly salary for working with Rosmah was only RM7,000, Rizal testified that he obtained the wealth from the political donation
He also admitted to having no shame of using the proceeds to take his family to perform the umrah
The proceeding before the judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan continues tomorrow. - Mkini

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