Rosmah trial: Driver says shuttled bags from bank to Rosmah’s residences

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 6 ― The driver to the company official accused of bribing Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor told the High Court today that he drove his employer on two occasions when the alleged offences occurred.

Shamsul Rizal Sharbini, the driver to Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd managing director Saidi Abang Shamsudin, said they brought two empty bags on both occasions.

These were then filled inside a bank and delivered to Rosmah's aide at the time, Datuk Rizal Mansor.

Shamsul, 42, is the prosecution's fourth witness.

On one occasion, he said they were accompanied by a man named Razak to a store near Pertama Complex, where they purchased two luggage bags before going to the Medan Tuanku Maybank branch.

When they exited the bank with the filled bags, he said an unidentified man entered Saidi’s Range Roger with them and sat at the rear.

“He looked like a policeman and he had a firearm on him,” Shamsul told the High Court today.

“Saidi then whispered into my ear ‘if anything happens, he is afraid he will die,’ without telling me who the armed man was.”

They all drove in tense silence to Pavilion Kuala Lumpur where Shamsul said he saw Rizal greet Saidi and Razak briefly.

The driver said he was then instructed to remove the bags from the car and place them behind one of the building’s doors.

Shamsul said the bags were too heavy for him to lift together and he had to carry them individually. The others then left him and entered the building, which Shamsul described as having a lobby and being located next to the Pavilion Mall.

“Half an hour later, Saidi called me to come back to the place where I dropped them off. I parked behind a Toyota Vellfire and saw both the black luggage bags placed in the Vellfire's luggage compartment.

“I did not see who put them there but I'm sure it was the same two bags that were in our vehicle. Once the Vellfire departed Pavillion, Saidi and Razak returned to the Range Rover without the armed man. It was here that Saidi jokingly said ‘I don't know who that guy who came with us was. What if he killed us?” said Shamsul.

On an unspecified date in 2017, Shamsul said Saidi asked him to drive the latter’s Mercedes-Benz S400 to the exclusive Langgak Duta neighbourhood.

Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Rosmah maintain their private mansion in Langgak Duta.

“Less than a month after we went to the Langgak Duta house, Saidi called me and asked me to send him to the same bank again. This time he told me to go and buy two duffel bags from a nearby shop,  which I did without question.

“I purchased the bags from a shop in Chow Kit for RM45 each before returning to the bank and handing them over to Saidi who was in one of the top floors of the bank.

“Saidi then asked me to place several bundles of RM100 notes into the bags and put them in the car. We then left for Sunway Putra to meet Saidi's partner, Rayyan Radzwill Abdullah.

“We followed his car to the same house in Langgak Duta and saw Rizal already waiting for us at the door,” said Shamsul.

This time, Rayyan told Shamsul to take the bags into the house. He was then directed to place these on a green sofa in the living room.

“At the time, I heard Saidi ask Rizal 'where is Madam?' To which Rizal replied, 'Madam is upstairs'. I left to move and park the car outside and 20 minutes later Saidi called me to pick him up from the front of the house.

“I noticed when Rayyan and Saidi left the house they did not bring the bags along with them. Saidi never mentioned what the bags were for and what was in them and we then left the place,” Shamsul explaiend to the High Court.

Shamsul also told the High Court today that he had attended an Education Ministry meeting connected to the solar project.

He could not recall the exact date of the meeting but said it was heated and tense, with Rayyan and ministry officials each expressing dissatisfaction with the other over the project.

Rosmah was charged on November 15, 2018 with having asked for an RM187.5 million bribe or 15 per cent of the Hybrid Photovoltaic Solar System Integrated project and the maintenance and operation of Genset/Diesel for 369 project rural schools in Sarawak worth RM1.25 billion.

She was charged on April 10, 2019 with receiving a RM5 million bribe in cash from Saidi via her former aide Datuk Rizal Mansor.

Yesterday, Maybank officer Azimah Aziz, who was the third prosecution witness, testified that Saidi had withdrawn RM5 million on December 19, 2016 and another RM1.5 million on September 6, 2017.

The trial continues on Monday 10am.