Witness Azimah Aziz, who was an officer at Maybank’s Medan Tuanku branch, said Jeepak Holdings Sdn Bhd managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin had withdrawn the sum of money on two occasions – in 2016 and 2017.
She said she was informed of Saidi’s request through another bank officer, known as Aidawati, on Dec 19, 2016, that the businessman wanted to withdraw RM5 million cash.
“He asked us to prepare the cash in RM100 denomination. However we only had RM1.2 million cash in the branch and it was not sufficient to fulfil Saidi’s request. I made a request to the bank’s headquarters so to send RM5 million cash to us,” Azimah said, in testifying in Rosmah’s corruption case.
She said the headquarters then sent RM5 million cash the following day (Dec 20, 2016) to the branch, adding that she and the branch’s assistant manager Harryade Arbe counted the money in the branch’s cash room.
“Saidi came to our branch, with a man, and collected the RM5 million on the same day. He also counted the cash and packed the money in a bag,” Azimah added.
The bank officer also told the court that Saidi wanted to withdraw RM1.5 million cash on Sept 6, 2017. Azimah said that she requested her headquarters to send RM1 million in cash to the Medan Tuanku branch as they did not have enough cash for Saidi.
“He came to our branch the following day with a man. I asked him why he was making the RM1.5 million cash withdrawal. He said the cash withdrawal was meant for business purposes,” the witness said.
Meanwhile, Mohd Redzuan Othaman from the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) also testified today. He told the court that his superior, Mohd Shukri Mohd Said, had told him to go to Rosmah’s house in Langgak Duta here on Nov 2, 2018 to take photos of the alleged crime scene.
He said he went to Rosmah’s house with his two colleagues, Mohd Ahyar Salleh Hudin and Rekhraj Singh.
“Three witnesses, namely Saidi, Rayyan Radzwill Abdullah and Shamsul Rizal Sharbini came with us to the house,” Redzuan said, when asked by deputy public prosecutor Poh Yih Tinn on whether any other individual had gone with them to Rosmah’s house.
The MACC officer said the three witnesses came along with them so that they could show the location of the crime scene.
Rosmah’s lawyer Akberdin Abdul Kader asked Redzuan why the case investigating officer, Noornabilah Mohd Aziman, was not present when MACC took the three men to the house.
The lawyer then asked, “Wasn’t the IO supposed to tell you what kind of pictures to take?”
The officer responded by saying his senior (Rekhraj) was there to give instructions.
Akberdin then asked why he had captioned the pictures as “Datin Seri Rosmah’s house” as the lawyer claimed Redzuan had no knowledge as to whether the Langgak Duta house was indeed Rosmah’s.
Deputy public prosecutor Akram Abdul Gharib said the defence should let the witness finish his answers before asking more questions.
Redzuan then said, “Noornabilah gave me the photos’ captions after I showed her what I took”.
Akberdin continued to press Redzuan on why he omitted the name of Rosmah’s husband Najib Razak in some of his photo captions, and if the action to omit Najib’s name was done with “intention”.
Deputy public prosecutor Idham Abd Ghani objected to the question, saying the lawyer should ask Noornabilah this question when it was her turn to take the stand.
Trial judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan then told Akberdin the witness was telling the court that he only received the photo captions from Noornabilah.
Akberdin proceeded to ask why Redzuan was present at the house, which led to ad-hoc prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram remarking, “This is the fifth time he is asking the question”.
The witness repeated his answer, saying he was only instructed to take pictures at the house and was not involved in bringing the three men.
The hearing continues tomorrow.
Rosmah is slapped with three charges for allegedly soliciting RM187.5 million from Saidi Abang Samsudin, managing director of Jeepak Holdings Sdn Bhd, as an inducement to help the company secure the Hybrid Photovoltaic Solar System Integrated Project and Maintenance and Operation of Genset/Diesel for 369 rural schools in Sarawak, worth a total of RM1.25 billion through direct negotiation from the education ministry.
She is also accused of receiving bribes amounting to RM6.5 million from Saidi between 2016 and 2017.