KUALA LUMPUR, March 11 — Former Education Ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Alias Ahmad admitted to having played golf in Kuala Lumpur with Saidi Abang Samsudin, the director of the company Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd that had obtained a RM1.25 billion project from the ministry.

Alias, who was testifying as the 12th prosecution witness in Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor’s bribery trial, admitted to this while being questioned by Rosmah’s lawyer Datuk Akberdin Abdul Kader.

Akberdin had shown Alias a letter dated January 5, 2017 from Jepak Holdings to then prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, where the company had urged Najib to grant Alias “absolute power” to carry out tasks and decisions relating to the project without any interference or instructions from anyone except for Najib himself, and with the company justifying this request by claiming that the project was of national interest and had been exposed to continued interference.

Akberdin: So my question, do you know the Jepak owner Saidi?

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Alias: Don’t know.

Akberdin: You don’t know (him), he chose you to give you absolute power.

Alias: I only met him, can I explain?

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Akberdin: You ever played golf with him or not?

Alias nodded when asked this question, before denying having played golf with Saidi — who is a Sarawakian — in Bintulu, Sarawak or overseas.

Akberdin: How many times? Where? At Bintulu golf course?

Alias: No, at Tropicana Kuala Lumpur.

Akberdin: At Bintulu golf course?

Alias: Never.

Akberdin: Ever played golf with him overseas?

Alias: Never.

Akberdin: Not even once?

Alias: Not even once.

Alias, a 62-year-old retiree, had also testified earlier that Rosmah and her aides had asked him about the progress and status of payments by the government to Jepak, and that Rosmah had also allegedly asked him to speed up the Education Ministry’s signing of the contract with Jepak for the RM1.25 billion project.

In this trial, Rosmah is facing several charges, including allegedly receiving a RM5 million bribe and a RM1.5 million bribe from Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd’s Saidi Abang Samsudin on the dates of December 20, 2016 and September 7, 2017 in exchange for helping the company get the RM1.25 billion solar hybrid project.

The trial before High Court judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan resumes this afternoon.