Rosmah’s lawyer NoorHajran Mohd Noor said the claim by Mazlan Aliman, who also heads Felda whistleblower group Persatuan Anak Peneroka Felda or ANAK, was “a lie and malicious slander”.
“Such allegations have created ill-will among netizens as well as destroyed my client’s reputation and integrity,” NoorHajran said in a statement, referring to a YouTube video showing Mazlan speaking at a ceramah.
The Auditor-General’s report in 2015 had stated that Felda had yet to get any benefit or returns from its sturgeon fish project, despite millions of ringgit invested to kickstart the sector.
The report said that sturgeon fish could also not be sent to Malaysia because the aquaculture farm had yet to be built.
In January 2017, MACC arrested five people suspected of corruption in the sturgeon project.
In the video, Mazlan, a former PAS activist who is now part of Amanah’s central committee, said the project, which aims to produce the highly priced caviar delicacy, said millions of ringgit was wasted on building facilities for the project which never took off.
He said he was later approached by one of the Felda officers arrested by MACC, who spoke to him at length about Felda’s transformation project which was presented to the agency’s board of directors.
“He said that by 2015, Felda will no longer have oil palm and rubber plantations,” Mazlan said in his speech, adding that he was told that the project would replace Felda’s palm oil and rubber plantations, with a projected income of RM360 million a year.
Mazlan then claimed that he was informed that the project had received blessings from Prime Minister Najib Razak, and that the Felda officer was in constant communication with Rosmah, who advised him on how to move with the project.