‘Mem’ wanted me to prepare consultancy agreement for solar project, businessman tells court

A businessman told the Kuala Lumpur High Court yesterday that a certain “mem”, whom he later confirmed to be Rosmah Mansor, wanted him to prepare a consultancy agreement for the solar hybrid projects for rural schools in Sarawak.

Lawrence Tee Kien Moon, 51, said he was informed of the matter by Rosmah’s former aide, Rizal Mansor, during a meeting in May 2016 at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf at Pavilion shopping mall.

The meeting was also attended by Rayyan Radzwill Abdullah, the business partner of Jepak Holdings’ former managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin.

In his witness statement, Tee said Rizal told him during this meeting 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 Rizal’s request and gave him the same response as I did to Rayyan, that the agreement could be prepared by Jepak’s lawyer.

“I also told Rizal that I had never prepared such an agreement and had to get my lawyer to prepare it.

“Rizal then told me that I had to do it because ‘mem’ wanted me to. I did not ask him who ‘mem’ was, but I acceded to his request because Rizal was the special officer of Rosmah Mansor,” he said during examination-in-chief by deputy public prosecutor Poh Yih Tinn.

When asked who “mem” was, Tee replied: “Rosmah.”

Tee, who was appointed as a consultant for a company in Vietnam in 2016, said there was no discussion at that time on the commercial terms of the agreement as Rizal said “Mem masih discuss” (Mem is still discussing the matter).

He also said the meeting only lasted 15 to 20 minutes as he had to leave for Singapore.

“After a few days, Rizal contacted me 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 templates and sample consultancy agreements to be used as a reference in the preparation of the said consultancy agreement,” he said.

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

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

Tee 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 were Jepak Holdings and Lucky Victory Limited as consultant. I chose Lucky Victory which was an ‘offshore company’ based in Taiwan to act as the consultant for the said project,” he said.

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

Rosmah, the wife of former prime minister Najib Razak, is facing a 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 rural schools in Sarawak worth RM1.25 billion from the education ministry through direct negotiation.

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

The hearing will continue before judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan.