Rosmah looked upon as fierce wife of the prime minister - Rizal Mansor

The High Court here was told today that members of the civil service were afraid of Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor who was looked upon as a fierce woman and capable of influencing her husband, then Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s decisions and actions.

Rosmah’s former special officer, Datuk Rizal Mansor, 46, said he viewed Rosmah to be such a person based on his experience working with members of the civil service as a contract employee in 2009.

“In the eyes of members of the civil service, Datin Seri Rosmah was capable of influencing the (then) Prime Minister to transfer or demote government officers who opposed or did not follow her requests, or the term normally used by civil servants, to sent them to the cold storage.

“Apart from that, I also found Datin Seri Rosmah to be very influential in the government’s administration as agencies and government officers were hesitant to deny the requests by F.L.O.M (First Lady of Malaysia) Division and Datin Seri Rosmah.

“The government officers always tried tried to satisfy and please Datin Seri Rosmah, they will try to fulfil all her requests and demands," he said when reading out his witness statement during examination-in-chief by deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib.

Rizal is testifying in the trial of the wife of former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak who is facing one charge of soliciting RM187.5 million and two counts of receiving bribes totalling RM6.5 million from Jepak Holdings ex-managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin.

However, the 21st prosecution witness said, at that time, he regarded the negative description of Rosmah as inaccurate and merely rumours which were intended to paint a bad image of her among the civil servants.

“As the special officer to Datin Seri Rosmah, I always defended her,”’ he said, adding that he also always saw how Rosmah communicated with Najib and noticed that Najib respected Rosmah’s views.

Earlier, Rizal told the court that between May 1, 2009 and May 2018, he was attached with the F.L.O.M (First Lady of Malaysia) Division, which was set up after Najib took oath of office as the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia in April 2009.

He said the F.L.O.M Division was later renamed as Special Division and he was tasked with managing Rosmah’s official and unofficial activities.

Rizal said during his tenure with the F.L.O.M Division, he found the division respected and feared by other government agencies and attributed it to Rosmah’s reputation and director of the division then, Datuk Seri Azizah Abod, who is an old friend of Rosmah’s since her university days.

Requests from the F.L.O.M Division will be implemented by government agencies quickly and without going through the bureaucratic red-tapes, he added.

Rizal also told the court that in 2012, on Rosmah’s instruction, he set up the cybertroopers whose task was to monitor the social media content and to fend off and provide explanation for every slander and accusations made against Rosmah.

“The cybertroopers team operated with funds given by Datin Seri Rosmah, who gave me RM100,000 in cash every month to fund the team,” he added.

The witness said as he became closer to Rosmah, she began trusting him by giving him more personal tasks, such as handling personal contributions made by individuals to her (Rosmah).

Rizal said that to his knowledge, there were some entrepreneurs or contractors who were able to get government projects with Rosmah’s assistance and usually, the affected entrepreneur or contractor would give her gifts, including cash, as a token of appreciation.

“Since the gifts were given to her as ‘political contribution', I never thought it would be an offence for me to accept them on her behalf," he added.

According to the charges, Rosmah was alleged to have received the bribes 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 offences 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 on Monday.

-- BERNAMA