Rosmah able to influence Najib’s actions as PM, former MoE sec-gen testifies

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 13 ― Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor is very influential, to the point that she can influence the actions of her spouse Datuk Seri Najib Razak within his capacity as the prime minister, the High Court heard today.

Testifying as the sixth witness against Rosmah in her contract-for-bribe trial, former Education Ministry (MoE) secretary-general Tan Sri Madinah Mohamad said she felt compelled to take Rosmah’s request seriously when the latter told her to look into Jepak Holding Sdn Bhd’s application on the solar hybrid project during a National Permata Programme event in June 2016.

Madinah explained that Rosmah’s request had created a “sense of urgency” and failing to follow through with said request could have resulted in her being penalised by the then prime minister.

“I felt that way because of Datin Seri Rosmah is the wife of the prime minister. My impression at the time, Datin Seri Rosmah is an influential individual that is able to influence the actions of Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

“If I had not taken the [Jepak] application seriously, Datin Seri Rosmah can complain to Datuk Seri Najib Razak of my tardiness.

“Moreover, [Rosmah’s] husband is the prime minister who had issued an order to execute the Jepak solar hybrid project to replace the diesel genset project.

“As a public servant, any advice from the prime minister is a serious matter except for certain situations that does not allow actions to be taken,’’ she said.

Madinah also testified that she was pressured by Jepak’s executives Rayyan Radzwill Abdullah and Rosmah’s former aide Datuk Seri Rizal Mansor to expedite matters pertaining to the solar hybrid project.

“Datuk Rizal Mansor had never contacted me for any matters related to the Ministry of Education or any other matter before that. He only started to contact me on Jepak’s solar hybrid project.

“When Datuk Rizal Mansor calls me, asking the progress of the [Jepak] solar hybrid project’s application, I further noticed Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor’s interest and stake in the project,’’ she said.

Rizal also supposedly relayed the concerns of “PM” Najib and “ma’am” Rosmah on why the delay for the Ministry of education to approve the project’s direct negotiation agreement to the Ministry of Finance said Madinah.

“Datuk Rizal Mansor had asked me to just approve the application and used words like ‘the boss will know what to do’.

“I know ‘boss’ refers to Datuk Seri Najib Razak,’’ she said.

Najib was also the minister of finance at the time.

Rosmah is standing trial over her alleged seeking of RM187.5 million in bribes and taking bribes totalling RM6.5 million from Saidi in exchange for helping Jepak secure the RM1.25 billion project.