KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 19 — The defence lawyers in Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor’s bribery trial posited that Tan Sri Madinah Mohamad did not verify the identities or persons claiming to work for Rosmah.
Madinah was accused of taking orders blindly without verifying if the persons in question were passing orders from former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Rosmah to curry favour with the government.
Madinah, the former Ministry of Education (MoE) secretary-general from 2013 till September 2016, had mentioned many times in her witness statement that she had correspondence from Rosmah’s aide Datuk Rizal Mansor and Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd partner Rayyan Radzwill Abdullah to expedite the RM1.25 billion solar energy project but she never made any effort to verify their identities.
During cross-examination by Rosmah’s lawyer Akberdin Abdul Kader, Madinah was asked how she came to know Rizal was working for Rosmah, to which she said Rizal had been in contact with her about matters pertaining to the solar hybrid project and he was always introduced as Rosmah’s personal aide by everyone to her.
Akberdin then suggested to Madinah that in this day and age, dropping the names of prominent people to get ahead of the competition or get favours is commonplace, and that it was possible Rizal was using Rosmah and Najib’s names without their permission.
Akberdin accused Madinah of not being thorough in verifying if Rizal worked for Rosmah; instead he said Rizal was actually hired under a special branch of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and his boss is Datuk Siti Azizah Sheikh Abod, who was the special officer of the prime minister assigned to coordinate matters involving Rosmah as the prime minister’s wife.
Akberdin: You mentioned Rizal a lot in your statement but did you ever verify what he said to you regarding Rosmah and also who he actually worked for?
Madinah: No.
Akberdin: Did you know Rizal is assigned to the special unit in the PMO and his boss is Datuk Siti Azizah Sheikh Abod?
Madinah: I’m not sure. All I know is he is a pegawai khas.
Akberdin: Then why didn’t you verify this information? The best course of action would be to check with Rosmah, isn’t it?
Madinah: Yes.
Akberdin: But sadly, you didn’t do it. Do you know the practice of dropping names is common?
Madinah: Yes.
Akberdin: Then you, as someone who knows Rosmah, should have talked to her or checked with the jabatan khas at PMO to see if Rizal was indeed working for Rosmah. It would have helped.
Madinah: Yes.
Akberdin added that Rizal had used Rosmah’s name without permission, and as a result, is being charged for seeking bribes on three occasions: One for RM500,000, another for RM5 million and the third for RM1,500, all from Jepak.
Akberdin suggested that Rizal may have been working alone for his own gain and Madinah was careless by just entertaining Rizal and Rayyan. Akberdin showed several WhatsApp messages between Madinah and Rayyan in which they were cordial and almost friendly in nature.
He asked Madinah that if, in her witness statement, she had said Rayyan was a bully and made threats and demands towards her staff, her superiors and others, why did she speak to him in such a mild and respectful manner?
“He (Rayyan) was threatening my staff all the time, but with me, he was respectful. My staff had told me many times he was using bad words and made demands that they expedite the solar hybrid project to Jepak immediately.
“Also, he and Rizal would always triangulate information and messages to me and it contained messages that were from the prime minister. That’s how I knew they were in touch with the prime minister and Rosmah,” said Madinah.
Later on, during cross examination by the prosecution, Madinah was asked by Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram if she had ever received any bribes or favours from Rayyan and Rizal, to which she answered in the negative.
Sri Ram: You were asked to entertain Rizal even when you didn’t know who he was. Why did you entertain his requests?
Madinah: Because I saw him at a lot of Permata events and he was always introduced as the special officer of the accused. He had introduced himself as a special officer to Rosmah and was always referred to by others as the special officer.
Sri Ram: Was the accused present during those times?
Madinah: Yes, of course.
Sri Ram: When it was put that Rizal was a special officer, how did the accused react?
Madinah: She had no reaction.
Yesterday, the defence blamed Madinah for blindly following minutes and instructions sent from the PMO to the MoE to release a Letter Of Appointment (LOA) to Jepak Holdings for the solar hybrid project.
They accused Madinah of being negligent and in dereliction of duties. Gopal then asked her why she followed orders; how important a note or letter directly from the PMO is; and how government officers should treat these letters, to which she said they are very important and require immediate action.
Sri Ram: It’s been put to you that you could refuse the orders of the PM whenever you felt like it. But please tell the court how heavy or important minutes from the PM are and how they are treated.
Madinah: It’s something that’s very, very serious and needs immediate attention.
Sri Ram: So why didn’t you say no immediately?
Madinah: I couldn’t say no immediately as I needed to gather all the information and see if it (solar hybrid project) was viable. I followed through with my officers and directed them to conduct research and have a technical committee to see if they (Jepak Holdings) had a viable composition. Then we brought it to the meetings and minuted our findings to the ministers.
The trial continues tomorrow at 10am.
