Rosmah: I was willing to sacrifice for him
ACOMBATIVE Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor yesterday fended off questions on why a host of prosecution witnesses had given damning testimony against her by shooting back at the prosecution to ‘go ask them why they are doing it’!
She also washed her hands off allegations of receiving bags filled with millions of ringgit, which had allegedly been delivered to her house as kickbacks by businessmen seeking to obtain a RM1.25 billion contract to supply solar energy to rural schools in Sarawak.
Lead prosecutor Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram cross examined Rosmah in detail about her defence that various parties, including the Attorney General Chambers (AGC), her former aide Datuk Rizal Mansor, former Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid, former Education Ministry secretary-general Tan Sri Madinah Mohamed and Datuk Seri Alias Ahmad, along with others had gone all out to fabricate evidence against her and lie in court.
To repeated questions posed by Sri Ram on why any of these people would want to fix her by lying in court, Rosmah said the deputy public prosecutor (DPP) should go and ask them instead of posing the questions to her.
“Go ask them why they are doing it. I don’t know.”
Pushed further by Sri Ram if she could provide any reasons, Rosmah just responded by saying “No”.
Rosmah was also grilled on the social media attacks against her just one year after her husband Datuk Seri Najib Razak was appointed as prime minister in 2009.
However, Rosmah said she did not know when attacks against her began.
“I don’t read the newspapers every day because I am busy, you know,” she said.
Sri Ram: Then how did you come to know of these attacks against you?
Rosmah: Datuk Seri... I have many friends. They inform me. Some of the comments I just ignore because the more you respond, the more they ‘bantai’ (whack) me. So I just ignored it. I know it is sometimes pointless to respond to those who have already made up their minds.
Sri Ram then referred Rosmah to a news report with comments attributed to former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and former New Straits Times group editor-in-chief turned blogger Datuk A. Kadir Jasin, before asking her if she was concerned that the attacks against her had a reverberating effect on her husband.
Rosmah: Yes, but my husband consoled me by saying that the attacks were actually meant for him. My husband is a good man. He said these people wanted to see his downfall and I was being attacked because I was a soft target. So I said okay lah. I was willing to sacrifice for him. This is politics.
Sri Ram: You say you were the soft target, so you were naturally concerned by the level of attacks against you.
Rosmah: Yes and no... I agree that I was concerned. I am not a stupid woman, I know what the effects could be. I was married to a politician, who was at that time, at the very top. They will attack me and they will also attack him.
Sri Ram: You were in the limelight more than the wives of the other prime ministers.
Rosmah: I am not sure. I don’t compare myself to them.
The DPP then asked Rosmah about bags of money, which had been delivered to her house, including witness statements that RM5 million had been sent to Seri Perdana, which is the prime minister’s official residence, on Dec 20, 2016.
Rosmah claimed she was not even at home when the delivery allegedly took place.
“It is absolutely not true. I was not even at home. I was all over Kuala Lumpur on that day,” she said.
However, Rosmah agreed that she had failed to mention about not being at home on the day the alleged delivery took place, in her witness statement.
Rosmah is facing charges of soliciting RM187.5 million from Jepak Holdings to help the company secure a solar hybrid project for rural schools in Sarawak.
She is also accused of receiving RM6.5 million to ensure the company got the project.
Sri Ram will continue with the cross examination on Oct 21 before High Court Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan.