Rosmah trial: Witness claims he was not misled by Rizal Mansor to prepare ‘consultancy agreement’

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 8 — Businessman Lawrence Tee stressed that he was not misled by Datuk Rizal Mansor to prepare a “consultancy agreement” for Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd and claimed that the latter had acted consistently as the special officer of Datin Sri Rosmah Mansor, the High Court heard today.

During cross-examination by the defence, Tee admitted that he had no personal knowledge as to whether Rosmah had a direct role in issuing instructions for the preparation of the agreement, but again stressed that Rizal had consistently pursued and instructed him to prepare it.

Tee was being quizzed by Rosmah’s lawyer, Datuk Jagjit Singh, on whether Rizal had misled him by frequently name dropping “mem”, “Datin Seri” and even the “PM” as a charade in order to persuade Tee to do the agreement as a means to remunerate himself.

Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor is pictured at the Kuala Lumpur High Court September 8, 2020. — Picture by Firdaus Latif

Tee had repeatedly answered that he acceded to prepare the agreement because he perceived Rizal to be in a “powerful” position as Rosmah’s special officer.

Jagjit: I put it to you, in the totality of your evidence, you were misled by Rizal, in the role you were involved in, based on the perception that Rizal was the special officer to Datin Seri?

Tee: I don’t think I was misled. His behaviour has been consistent since the first time we met.

The purported agreement was for Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd to hire Taiwan-based firm Lucky Victory Limited as a consultant for the solar hybrid project.

Jagjit also asked Tee whether he had asked for fees from Jepak Holdings or Lucky Victory to prepare the agreement, to which he said no.

In the opening statement of the case, the prosecution posited that the agreement in question was a “sham agreement meant to disguise the payment and to conceal the name of the true recipient of the money”.

In this trial, Rosmah is accused of receiving RM1.5 million in two black bags with orange stripes that were allegedly brought to her house in Taman Duta and placed beside a sofa in the hall on September 7, 2017.

The trial before High Court judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan resumes tomorrow with Rizal taking the stand.