Rosmah Aide Charged With Taking Bribes Over Rm200 Million For Sarawak Solar Project

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KUALA LUMPUR: Rosmah Mansor, the wife of former prime minister Najib Razak, was charged along with her former aide today with receiving bribes in connection to the RM1.25 billion solar hybrid project for rural schools in Sarawak
Rosmah was said to have attempted to obtain RM187.5 million from Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin between March and April in 2016
The amount was 15% of the value of the contract, said to be as an inducement to help the company obtain the project via direct negotiation from the education ministry
Rosmah was also charged with receiving RM1.5 million in bribes from Saidi to assist him in obtaining the contract. The offence was allegedly committed on Sept 7 last year at her private residence in Taman Duta here
Both offences come under Section 16 (a)(A) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act
If found guilty, she could be jailed for up to 20 years and fined not less than five times the value of gratification for each of the charges
Deputy public prosecutor Umar Saifuddin Jaafar led the prosecution
The court allowed bail of RM1 million. Rosmah’s lawyer Geethan Ram Vincent requested that she be allowed to pay the bail in instalments over 10 days
The judge ordered Rosmah to pay RM500,000 today and the rest within seven days
The solar project courted controversy when whistleblower website Sarawak Report alleged in June that Najib had ordered the contract to be awarded to Jepak Holdings, a transportation services company based in Bintulu
Jepak Holdings was appointed at the end of 2016 for the supply of diesel and repair of generators, and to provide solar hybrid systems for 369 rural schools in Sarawak
To date, none of the schools have these systems
Rosmah’s former aide Rizal Mansor, 44, was charged in a separate courtroom before Sessions Court judge Rozina Ayob in connection with the same project
He was charged with two counts of soliciting and another two counts of receiving bribes from Saidi, in offences committed at a cafe in Sunway Putra Mall
These include soliciting RM187.5 million on behalf of Rosmah between March and April 2016, as well as RM25 million from Saidi for himself as an inducement to ensure Rosmah would help Jepak Holdings secure the project
Rizal was also charged with two counts of receiving a total of RM5.5 million from Saidi in December 2016, as reward for Rosmah in helping the company secure the project
Deputy public prosecutor Kamal Bahrin prosecuted
Rizal was arrested by MACC in July
The MACC began investigating the billion ringgit project in April, a month before the general election. -FMT

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