Rosmah’s Bribe Trial: Day Three

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Infamous “Can I advise you something?” audio recording played in court.

10am: Rosmah Mansor enters the courtroom.

Also seen in the court are deputy public prosecutors, including Akram Gharib and Mustaffa Kunyalam, and Rosmah Mansor’s lawyers Akberdin Abdul Kader and Jagjit Singh.

Rosmah, who is seated in the public gallery, is seen chatting and giggling with her supporters. She keeps smiling as she walks towards the dock and takes her seat.

Seth Akmal/TMI

10.10am: The hearing starts with former education minister Mahdzir Khalid taking his oath to testify as a witness.

10.20am: The court hears from Mahdzir that after the Education Ministry has agreed to award an RM1.25 billion project to Jepak Holdings to supply solar system for 369 schools in Sarawak in 2016, the company’s executives were still unhappy with how the contract was made.

According to Mahdzir, Jepak’s managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin and his partner Rayyan Radzwill Abdullah had met him in November 2016 to voice their dissatisfaction over a clause in the contract.

The clause that Saidi and Rayyan wanted to be taken out was a part where the Education Ministry is given the power to terminate works for schools that had been connected to grid power line.

Mahdzir testifies that Rayyan and Saidi even told him then that he should not make it difficult, and that it was just a small issue to be taken to the then prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.

He says that Saidi then called Rizal Mansor, who was then an aide to Najib’s wife Rosmah Mansor, and passed his phone to Mahdzir.

According to Mahdzir, Rizal told him not to make matters more difficult, and that the project is in the knowledge of the “ma’am”.

“I understand that the ma’am he meant was Datin Seri Rosmah”.

10.43am: Mahdzir testifies that in July 2017, Saidi and Rayyan had met him to talk about the difficulty to get paid for its interim claims.

According to him, Saidi said the Education Ministry’s Finance Department refused to process Jepak’s claim forms citing lack of documents.

“However, I told Saidi I could not do anything to help him,” Mahdzir says.

Mahdzir tells the court that a few days later, he was met by Rizal to discuss the same matter.

Rizal had allegedly asked Mahdzir to write a letter in his capacity as the education minister to ask Najib for an exception to be given to Jepak.

Mahdzir says he had then asked for an officer to prepare the letter, which was then sent to Najib.

According to him, Najib had later put a minute on the letter, saying that he agreed to give Jepak an exception and ordered an officer in the Finance Ministry to execute the order.

10.45am: The court hears from Mahdzir that he had never solicited nor received any kickbacks from Jepak for the solar hybrid project in Sarawak.

In ending his written testimony, Mahdzir testifies that he had only awarded Jepak the contract worth RM1.25 billion because he was following orders from Najib.

11am: Justice Mohamed Zaini Mazlan calls for a short break.

11.10am: Proceedings resume with lead DPP Gopal Sri Ram cross-examining Mahdzir.

11.20am: Sri Ram asks Mahdzir if he can identify the voices of Najib and Rosmah.

As Mahdzir says that he is familiar with the voices and would be able to do so, Sri Ram then asks the court for permission to play an audio recording for identification.

However, this was objected by Rosmah’s lawyers, saying that the prosecution should give them ample time to examine the evidence first.

Sri Ram then argues that he only wants Mahdzir to identify the voices in the recording.

Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan then allows the audio recording to be played.

11.25am: The prosecution plays an audio recording of a purported phone conversation between Najib and Rosmah for Mahdzir to identify their voices.

This was the same audio recording which was revealed by the MACC during a press conference last month.

“Can I advise you something?” the court hears the voice, purportedly Rosmah’s, several times.

Mahdzir testifies that the voice he heard was Rosmah’s.

He also identifies the other voice in the audio recording as Najib’s.

11.30am: Jagjit cross-examines Mahdzir.

He starts by going through Mahdzir’s witness statement, asking him to clarify certain things in his testimony.

12.30pm: Mahdzir reiterates his statement that Najib had pressured him to consider giving Jepak Holdings a project to supply hybrid solar system to 369 schools in Sarawak.

He repeatedly says this during cross-examination by Jagjit.

Jagjit had suggested to Mahdzir that his statement that Najib had pressured him through minutes by the premier was not true.

“He did put pressure on me,” says Mahdzir.

12.45pm: Jagjit puts to Mahdzir that he had in 2015 received RM50,000 from Saidi.

However, the fifth prosecution witness disagrees with the suggestion.

Jagjit: On Dec 19, 2015, Datuk Seri (Mahdzir) had asked for, or told Saidi, a few times that you wanted to go to London and that it would involve a lot of expenses.

And then Saidi gave you RM50,000 to cover your expenses.

Do you agree?

Mahdzir: I disagree.

1.30pm: Jagjit queries Mahdzir on text messages between him and Saidi.

The exchanges, which was read in court by Jagjit, include a message from Saidi saying that he was still waiting for a Letter of Award (LA) “as promised by YB”, referring to Mahdzir.

Jagjit then confronts Mahdzir on this, saying that the text message looked like he had indeed promised Jepak the contract.

Mahdzir, however, denies this.

Jagjit then suggests to Mahdzir that he had agreed to give the LA to Saidi because Saidi had given him RM50,000.

Jagjit: For accepting RM50,000, you have been bought over by Saidi. That is why this message from Saidi reads “seperti dijanjikan YB”.

Do you agree or disagree?

Mahdzir: I disagree.

1.48pm: Court adjourns for the day and will resume tomorrow.


Earlier reports:

Feb 10, Ex-Minister Tells Rosmah’s Trial: I Wasn’t Bribed, Simply Followed Najib’s Orders

Feb 6, Rosmah’s Bribe Trial: Day Two

Feb 6, Driver Delivered Bags of Cash to Rosmah’s House

Feb 6, Rosmah Allegedly Pressured Ex-Minister to Award Project to Jepak

Feb 5, Rosmah’s Bribe Trial: Day One

Feb 5, Rosmah’s Lawyer Cries Intimidation over MACC’s Probe of Doctor Who Issued MC

Feb 5, RM6M Bribe in RM100 Bills

Feb 5, Rosmah’s Controversial FLOM Division Rebranded After Public Criticism

Feb 5, DPP: Overbearing Rosmah Wielded Considerable Influence