Rosmah pressured Dr Madinah to expedite solar project application, court told

KUALA LUMPUR: Former education ministry secretary-general Tan Sri Dr Madinah Mohamad told the High Court on Thursday (Feb 13) that the ministry received pressure from several individuals to expedite the approval process to award Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd with the solar hybrid project contract in Sarawak.

Madinah, who is sixth prosecution witness to Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor's corruption trial here, said that among the individuals were Rosmah herself, her former aide Datuk Rizal Mansor, and Rayyan Radzwill Abdullah, who is the business partner to Jepak Holdings managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin.

Reading from her witness statement, Madinah said that the pressure started around April 2016.

She told the court that she recalled an incident where the wife of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak told her to expedite the process.

She said that the incident, which she termed "extraordinary (luar biasa)", happened after one of the events held in relation to the Permata programme.

"After the event ended, I accompanied Rosmah to her car. After entering the car, she lowered her window and called me by waving to me.

"When I approached her, she said: 'Can you take a look at Jepak Holdings' solar project? Can you expedite it (cepatkan sikit)?

"I only answered, 'god willing'," she said.

Madinah said that at the same event, Rizal also asked her about the status of the solar hybrid project.

"Rizal asked me to take a look at the project, and I only replied, 'okay, okay'," she added.

She said that after that, Rizal often texted her to ask her about the status of the solar hybrid project.

Rayyan, she told the court, also started contacting her after the event to ask about the project.

"Even after I gave him the assurance that the solar hybrid project application will be processed according to (the Education Ministry's) guidelines, Rayyan seemed to not take heed to what I said (tidak faham bahasa) and kept sending me messages, a few times a day," she said.

She added that she always replied to Rayyan's messages, as she did not want him to tell Najib and "ma'am" (Rosmah) that she was purposely delaying the application process.

The trial continues before High Court judge Justice Mohamed Zaini Mazlan on Monday (Feb 17).