News by Syahirah Syed Jaafar

"This project was given through direct negotiations and needed to be processed by the Government Procurement Division of the Finance Ministry."

Former education ministry secretary-general Tan Sri Madinah Mohamad (pictured), the sixth witness in Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor’s graft trial.

This was revealed by Madinah when reading her witness statement before Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan.

Mahdzir, who is the fifth prosecution witness in the trial, disagreed with a suggestion from Rosmah's counsels Datuk Jagjit Singh and Datuk Akberdin Abdul Kader that the appointed law firm had “brokered” a deal for him.

Justice Mohamed Zaini Mazlan called for the lunch break, with proceedings originally set to continue in the afternoon as Rosmah's lawyer Datuk Jagjit Singh had yet to finish his cross-examination of the fifth prosecution witness, former education minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid.

Mahdzir, however, said as it was a project under the purview of the Education Ministry, it did not require reporting to either the Cabinet or the Dewan Rakyat.

Lead defence lawyer Datuk Jagjit Singh, in his cross-examination of Mahdzir, put it to the former minister that there was not a "Team Saidi", but in fact a "Team Mahdzir" leading the project.

"Rosmah told me to follow the directions as stated in the minutes by Najib and did not want me to delay in the solar project matter."

In the recording, Najib was heard saying "Yes anything?" to which Rosmah retorted "Can I advise you something?"

In his witness statement, Mahdzir said he was asked to terminate an existing contract using generator sets (genset) to power schools in Sarawak, to make way for Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd's proposal to use solar hybrid energy instead.