KUALA LUMPUR: A businessman told the High Court today that a certain “Mem”, whom he later confirmed to be Rosmah Mansor, wanted him to prepare a consultancy agreement for a solar hybrid projects for rural schools in Sarawak.
Lawrence Tee Kien Moon, 51, said the matter was informed to him by Rosmah’s former aide, Rizal Mansor, during their meeting on May 2016 at Pavilion shopping mall, which was also attended by Rayyan Radzwill Abdullah ( the business part of Jepak Holdings ex-managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin).
Tee said Rizal told him that to prepare a consultancy agreement for a project for the supply and installation of solar panels to over 300 schools in Sarawak.
“I questioned the request and gave him the same response as I did to Rayyan, that the agreement could be prepared by Jepak’s lawyer. I also told Datuk Rizal that I had never prepared such an agreement beforer and had to get my lawyer to prepare it.
“Datuk Rizal then told me that I had to do it because “Mem” wanted me to. I did not ask him who was “Mem” but I acceded to his request because Datuk Rizal was the Special Officer of Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor,” he said during examination-in-chief by deputy public prosecutor Poh Yih Tinn.
When asked by Poh who is ‘Mem’, the witness replied “Datin Seri Rosmah”.
The witness, who was appointed as a consultant for a company in Vietnam in 2016, said at that time there was no discussion on the commercial terms for the said agreement because Rizal said “Mem masih discuss” (Mem was still discussing the matter) and the meeting only lasted 15 to 20 minutes as Tee had to leave for Singapore.
“After a few days Datuk Rizal contacted me and required about the consultancy agreement. At that time I was in Vietnam. I passed a thumb drive to my secretary containing sample consultancy agreements which I found on the Internet for printing.
“I found the sample during my free time in Singapore. I searched for ‘template’ and samples consultancy agreement to be used as a reference in the preparation of the said consultancy agreement,” he said.
Tee said as he recalled the contract value of the solar project to be over RM1 billion and the payment term was over several years and more than 10 percent of the total contract value.
“At that time, Datuk Rizal said he wanted me to select a company to execute the said agreement with Jepak. I queried as to why they did not use their own company which was easier from a management perspective but they refused,” he said.
The witness said he prepared the consultancy agreement based on a sample from the internet and drafted the agreement in English.
“The parties stated in the agreement is Jepak Holdings and Lucky Victory Limited as consultant. I chose Lucky Victory which is an “offshore company” based in Taiwan to act as the consultant for the said project (solar),” he said.
Earlier, the court denied a request by defence counsel Akberdin Abdul Kader to impeach Saidi’s evidence for allegedly giving contradictory testimony about the withdrawal of RM1.5 million allegedly given to Rosmah.
Rosmah, the wife of former prime minister Najib Razak, is accused of one charge of soliciting RM187.5 million and two counts of receiving bribes totalling RM6.5 million from Saidi.
The bribes were allegedly received through Rizal as a reward for helping Jepak Holdings secure the Hybrid Photovoltaic Solar System Integrated Project, as well as the maintenance and operation of diesel gen-sets, for 369 Sarawak rural schools worth RM1.25 billion from the Education Ministry through direct negotiation.
The acts were allegedly committed at a cafe, Rosmah’s residence, and at Seri Perdana in Putrajaya between January 2016 and Sept 2017.
The hearing before Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan continues tomorrow. - FMT
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