"Mem" wanted me to prepare consultancy agreement for solar project - Witness

Lawrence Tee Kien Moon, 51, said the matter was informed to him by Rosmah’s former aide, Datuk Rizal Mansor during their meeting on May 2016 at the “The Coffee Bean Tea Leaf” located at Pavilion shopping mall, which was also attended by Rayyan Radzwill Abdullah (Jepak Holdings ex-managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin’s business partner).

Tee, when reading his witness statement said during this meeting, Rizal told him that he had to prepare a consultancy agreement for a project for the supply and installation of solar panels to over 300 schools in Sarawak.

“I questioned the request of Datuk Rizal and gave him the same response as I did to Rayyan that the agreement could be prepared by Jepak’s lawyer. I also told Datuk Rizal that I had never prepared such an agreement and had to get my lawyer to prepare it.

“Datuk Rizal then told me that I had to do it because “Mem” wanted me to. I did not ask him who was “Mem” but I acceded to his request because Datuk Rizal was the Special Officer of Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor,” he said during examination-in-chief by Deputy Public Prosecutor Poh Yih Tinn.

When asked by Poh who is ‘Mem’, the witness replied “Datin Seri Rosmah”.

The witness, who was appointed as a consultant for a company in Vietnam in 2016, said at that time there was no discussion on the commercial terms for the said agreement because Rizal said “Mem masih discuss” (Mem was still discussing the matter) and the meeting only lasted 15 to 20 minutes as Tee had to leave for Singapore.

“After a few days Datuk Rizal contacted me and enquired about the consultancy agreement. At that time I was in Vietnam. I passed a thumb drive to my secretary containing sample consultancy agreements which I found on the Internet for printing.

“I found the sample during my free time in Singapore. I searched for ‘template’ and samples consultancy agreement to be used as a reference in the preparation of the said consultancy agreement,” he said.

Tee said as he recalled the contract value of the solar project to be over RM1 billion and the payment term was over several years and more than 10 per cent of the total contract value.

“At that time, Datuk Rizal said he wanted me to select a company to execute the said agreement with Jepak. I queried as to why they did not use their own company which was easier from a management perspective but they refused,” he said.

The witness said he prepared the consultancy agreement based on a sample from the internet and drafted the agreement in English.

“The parties stated in the agreement is Jepak Holdings and Lucky Victory Limited as consultant. I chose Lucky Victory which is an “offshore company” based in Taiwan to act as the consultant for the said project (solar),” he said.

Earlier, the court denied defence counsel Datuk Akberdin Abdul Kader’s request to impeach Saidi’s evidence for allegedly giving contradictory testimonies regarding the withdrawal of RM1.5 million allegedly given to Rosmah.

Rosmah, the wife of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak, is facing one charge of soliciting RM187.5 million and two counts of receiving bribes totalling RM6.5 million from Saidi.

The bribes were allegedly received through Rizal as a reward for helping Jepak Holdings secure the Hybrid Photovoltaic Solar System Integrated Project, as well as the maintenance and operation of diesel gen-sets, for 369 Sarawak rural schools worth RM1.25 billion from the Education Ministry through direct negotiation.

The acts were allegedly committed at Lygon Cafe, Sunway Putra Mall, Jalan Putra here; Rosmah’s residence at Jalan Langgak Duta, Taman Duta and at Seri Perdana, Persiaran Seri Perdana, Precinct 10, Putrajaya between January 2016 and Sept 2017.

The hearing before Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan continues tomorrow.