This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on February 11, 2020

KUALA LUMPUR: Former education minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid yesterday rebuffed Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor’s suggestion that he allegedly received a bribe of RM50,000 from Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin.

The witness was asked about the bribe during cross-examination by Rosmah’s counsel Datuk Jagjit Singh, who showed him an article from Berita Harian dated Nov 30, 2018, which claimed Mahdzir had received the bribe and could be charged last year.

During his examination-in-chief by Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Idham Abdul Ghani previously, Mahdzir said he had neither solicited nor received any bribes from Saidi for the solar hybrid project.

“I only followed Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s instruction to award the solar hybrid project to Jepak. I only received pressure from team Saidi regarding the project,” he testified then.

Team Saidi, according to Mahdzir’s testimony last Thursday, refers to people associated with Saidi, including Rosmah’s former aide Datuk Rizal Mansor and Pekan Umno division secretary Datuk Ahmad Aazmey Abu Talib.

Below is an excerpt of the cross-examination yesterday:

Jagjit: I put it to you that you are not telling the truth regarding the solar hybrid project as you did receive money from Saidi?

Mahdzir: I do not agree.

Jagjit: I put it to you that you were earlier implicated with this as alleged in the newspaper article on Nov 30, 2018.

Mahdzir: I was not aware of the article.

Jagjit: I put it to you that you are asked to implicate my client, so you did solicit and receive a bribe, and that you were to be charged?

Mahdzir: I do not agree.

Jagjit: Based on the instruction I received, you are the most corrupt education minister?

Mahdzir: I disagree.

Jagjit: You were not charged so that you would implicate my client?

Mahdzir: I disagree.

Jagjit also suggested that Mahdzir received the RM50,000 bribe while he was on a trip to the UK with his family, which the witness denied.

Mahdzir, who is the Padang Terap member of parliament, is the fifth prosecution witness to testify in Rosmah’s trial.

‘Jepak not qualified for solar hybrid project’

Further questioned by Jagjit, Mahdzir agreed that Jepak did not seem to qualify to take on the solar hybrid project, as the company was previously only in the business of car rental and transport provision.

The former minister also said that when Jepak was awarded the project, the ministry had to come up with a contingency plan as the work was not progressing well.

He added for this reason, he was hesitant to approve the project without a go-ahead from the ministry’s technical committee first.

During examination-in-chief by DPP Idham last week, Mahdzir said he had been pressured by Rosmah, as well as her husband Najib, into approving Jepak’s project despite there being an existing contract of about a year for another party to supply generator diesel to the schools for its electricity supply.