The businessperson who promised to pay RM187.5 million to Rosmah Mansor after she allegedly agreed to help him secure a RM1.25 billion hybrid solar project from the government claimed a tycoon was roped in to help "legalise" the kickbacks to the former prime minister's wife.
Testifying at Rosmah's graft trial, Jepak Holdings managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin claimed Rosmah's aide Rizal Mansor brought him to meet with tycoon Desmond Lim at his Pavillion office and his officer, who was only referred to as "Lawrence".
Saidi alleged the meeting at the tycoon's office happened a week after a separate meeting with Rosmah at her Langgak Duta home, sometime between January and February 2016, to agree on the terms of Rosmah's help and payment.
"During the meeting, Rizal told Tan Sri Desmond Lim that I will get the Sarawak solar project and Jepak will make a contribution to ma'am. Rizal also said he was meeting with Tan Sri Desmond Lim on ma'am's order.
"Tan Sri Desmond Lim then asked Rizal and me to only engage Lawrence for further dealings. The meeting took less than five minutes," Saidi claimed while reading from his witness statement.
The court previously established that "ma'am" refers to Rosmah.
Following that, Saidi alleged he and Rizal briefed Lawrence on the background of the hybrid solar project.
"As I recalled, Lawrence suggested entering into an agreement with a company in order to 'legalise' the political donation promised to Rosmah," he testified.
'Legalised' as consultation fee
Said said that later on, Lawrence helped arranged an agreement between Jepak and a Taiwan-based company in which Jepak will pay 10 percent of the hybrid solar project value as "consultation fee" even though no consultation work ever took place.
Testifying as the 17th prosecution witness, Saidi claimed his then business partner Rayyan Radzwill Abdullah was in charge of liaising with Lawrence.
He said he couldn't remember the Taiwan-based company's name other than that it had the word "Lucky" in its name.
"According to the agreement, Lucky will provide consultation services to Jepak in order to secure the hybrid solar project from the Education Ministry. Jepak had to pay Lucky a fee amounting to 10 percent of the RM1.25 billion value for services rendered.
"The amount was set at 10 percent in the agreement on my request to Rayyan as I could not afford to pay the 15 percent requested by Rosmah," Saidi told the court.
"Lucky did not provide any consultancy services to Jepak nor assisted Jepak in securing the hybrid solar project. Jepak had never dealt with Lucky throughout the material time.
"According to Rizal, the agreement was needed to ensure that the political contribution that Jepak will pay to Rosmah is 'legalised'," he said.
Saidi alleged he inked the agreement on behalf of Jepak between September and November 2016 and handed them over to Rayyan and Lawrence.
However, He said a couple of months later, Rayyan informed him that Rosmah was insisting on 15 percent or RM187.5 million of the project value and he eventually agreed to amend the agreement.
Consultation agreement aborted
Yesterday, Rayyan who was the 16th prosecution witness, testified that the agreement arranged by Lawrence was eventually "aborted".
Rayan had testified the agreement was aborted as it was "overtaken by events".
Instead, Saidi said he made an RM5 million cash payment to Rosmah at the end of 2016.
He claimed the cash in two bags was initially brought to Lawrence's office in Pavillion in his vehicle. There, he alleged Lawrence promised to issue receipts for the money but never did so.
Saidi claimed Rizal, who was present, had discussed with Lawrence and later spoke on the phone with someone before informing that the RM5 million was to be delivered to Rosmah's residence.
He testified the money was placed into Rizal's Toyota Vellfire which then departed.
Jepak was officially awarded the project in June 2017.
Saidi told the court that Rizal had between January and June 2017 persistently reminded him to pay the promised political contribution to Rosmah, but he was facing cashflow problems with the project.
However, Saidi said Jepak finally received its first progress payment from the Education Ministry of RM63 million in August 2017.
He testified that after getting the money, he immediately arranged a meeting to Rosmah where he delivered RM1.5 million cash at her home on Sept 7, 2017.
'Rosmah went 'hmm' when told of cash'
Lead prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram asked Saidi if he received any receipt from Umno or BN for his "political donation", to which he said there was none.
Quizzed on whether Rosmah had turned down his original offer or rejected the RM1.5 million cash brought to her house during their second meeting, Saidi testified on the first occasion, the former premier's wife had smiled and instructed Rizal to make the necessary arrangements.
At the second meeting, Saidi claimed Rosmah similarly did not turn him away after being told about the cash.
"The accused just went 'hmm'...," he testified.
The trial 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. - Mkini
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