Rosmah I Should Have Been Prosecution Witness Against Rizal Mansor

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Rosmah Mansor contended that she should have been a prosecution witness against her former aide Rizal Mansor, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur heard today.
Testifying in the corruption trial against her linked to an RM1.25 billion solar hybrid energy project, the accused testified that the allegations in the three charges against her are defamatory in nature.
“Your Honour, I should have been the prosecution witness against PW21 (21st prosecution witness Rizal), and not the opposite.
“PW21 had clearly admitted guilt to the charges against him in his sworn testimony in court during the trial of this case,” testified the wife of former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.
Rosmah was referring to Rizal’s admissions that he had received several gratifications, among them RM500,000 from then Jepak Holdings managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin.
Saidi was the 17th prosecution witness. Jepak was awarded the RM1.25 billion solar hybrid energy project meant to benefit 369 rural schools in Sarawak.
“In reality, I had never ever sought or received any bribe money from PW17 (17th prosecution witness Saidi) or PW16 (16th prosecution witness Rayyan Radzwill Abdullah, a former business partner of Saidi in the project), whether directly, or through PW21. 
"And also, I have never done or admitted to doing so,” Rosmah testified on the first day of the defence stage of the corruption trial against her.

Rosmah Mansor's former aide Rizal Mansor
Rizal's the mastermind
In the opening statement by her defence team earlier during today’s proceedings, Rosmah contended that Rizal was the actual mastermind behind the corruption case.
On Jan 8 last year, the prosecution applied to drop charges against Rizal in return for his testimony against Rosmah.
On Feb 18 this year, the High Court ordered Rosmah to enter her defence, following its finding that the prosecution succeeded in establishing a prima facie case against her.
Rosmah, 70, is facing three charges under Section 16(a)(A) of the MACC Act 2009.
In the first charge, she is accused of soliciting RM187.5 million in bribes from Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd to help secure an Education Ministry project.
The RM1.25 billion project was intended to supply power to 369 rural schools in Sarawak using a combination of solar and diesel energy.
In the second and third charges, she is accused of receiving RM1.5 million and RM5 million in bribes respectively as a reward for securing the project.
'Not an efficient worker'

During today’s open-court proceedings before judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan, Rosmah claimed that Rizal had never been her special officer, but was the media officer to the First Lady of Malaysia (FLOM) division in the Prime Minister’s Department (PMD).
The accused alleged that Rizal was then assistant officer with special functions on contract with the PMD, and only reported to Siti Azizah Sheikh Abod, who was then tasked with coordinating matters at FLOM division.
In past trial proceedings, the court heard that the FLOM division was set up to coordinate the affairs of Rosmah when Najib was premier.
“PW21 was not an efficient and responsible worker in carrying out his duties because, among others, he was not able to write my speech text properly.
“PW21 had disciplinary problems at work, whereby he constantly ‘disappeared’ from work.
“I was not satisfied with PW21’s quality of work, because he is someone I would characterise as ‘pahat dengan penukul’, meaning that PW21 had to be constantly monitored and checked to prevent PW21 from being lax in completing his tasks.
“I also constantly heard complaints from Azizah Sheikh Abod and other officers regarding PW21’s dead-beat and frivolous attitude in his work,” Rosmah claimed.
'Large amount of money'
The accused claimed that she did not have a close relationship with Rizal and that any communication they both had were only work-related, and that for the most part that she would instead deal with Azizah.
While on the witness stand, she denied several portions of Rizal’s previous testimony for the prosecution, among them that he was ordered by her to set up a cybertroopers team to counter any defamatory allegation against her, and that he was funded RM100,000 a month by her for this alleged endeavour.
“I am only the wife of the prime minister, who did not receive any monthly salary and/or allowance from the government, or pension. The RM100,000 is a large amount of money, and it is impossible for me to give that amount of money to PW21 on a monthly basis,” she claimed.
Rosmah contended, among others, that she had no knowledge and never directed Rizal to collect gratification on her behalf, and that she did not know and never sanctioned Rizal to meet Saidi and Rayyan.
Previously, the court heard testimonies about Rizal, Saidi and Rayyan meeting together to allegedly arrange a meeting with Rosmah as part of Jepak’s bid to get the contract to the solar hybrid project.
Rosmah is expected to resume her testimony when proceedings before Zaini resumes tomorrow morning. - Mkini

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