KUALA LUMPUR: Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor's former special officer continued to come under the hammer today as he was cross examined by her lawyer about his lavish lifestyle which would have been impossible with a monthly salary of just RM7,000.
Lawyer Datuk Jagjit Singh accused Datuk Rizal Mansor of depending on corruption money to sustain the high flying lifestyle which the latter led while working for Rosmah.
Jagjit said it would have been impossible for the 45-year old civil servant to live in a RM3.5 million house and own cars like Mercedes Benz, BMW, Audi, Toyota Vellfire and Honda Odyssey if not for income derived from corruption.
The senior counsel said he had done some basic calculation based on Rizal's income and allowances while working for Rosmah from 2009 until 2018.
Based on the calculation, Jagjit said Rizal would have earned about RM660,282.72. The amount, he said, was grossly inadequate to buy the kind of things Rizal owned.
"Even if you did not spend a single sen..assuming that you were just living on air, water and love, there is no way you could have had such a lavish lifestyle.
"The only way you could lived like that is because you are a corrupted man," he said.
However, Rizal disagreed with the suggestion and was about to explain further when he was cut off by the lawyer.
During cross examination yesterday, Rizal was also subjected to a barrage of torrid and embarrassing questions about his lavish lifestyle.
Among other things, he admitted performing the Umrah almost every year while he worked for Rosmah using ill gotten money.
However, the 45-year-old insisted that such money was actually political donation and he saw no wrong in using it to go to the holy land too fulfill the religious obligation.
Rizal had then also acknowledged that he lived in a RM3.5 million house and bought two bicycles made by BMC Switzerland - one of the top brands in bicycle manufacturing, which cost about RM16,000 each.
At one stage of yesterday's cross examination, Jagjit branded Rizal as the biggest scumbag before he was asked to retract the word by High Court Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan.
Jagjit then rephrased and called Rizal the most dishonest, contemptible and despicable person instead, sometimes referring to the latter as a blatant, pathological liar.
Today, Jagjit continued the mode of attack and challenged Rizal on his statement that monies which he received were political donations.
Asked if collecting political donations was part of his job description while working for Rosmah, Rizal said he had solicited for such funds to further his own political ambitions.
Rizal yesterday admitted that he had harbored hopes of fighting for the Umno Youth Chief's post by taking on its incumbent Khairy Jamaluddin.
Jagjit: So you knew very well that whatever you were collecting was corrupt money and the political donations were being illegally solicited?
Rizal: My understanding is different.
Jagjit: You did not issue any receipts for whatever was collected.
Rizal: No.
Jagjit: The monies you collected were never received by Rosmah
Rizal: I totally disagree.
Jagjit: Rosmah never told you to do all this.
Rizal: I totally disagree.
Jagjit: The truth is that all your evidence is false too implicate Rosmah in the deal which you have cut with the prosecution.
Rizal: I have taken the oath to tell the truth.
Rizal had previously been the co-accused with Rosmah in the case.
However, all four charges against him were dropped earlier this year and Rizal has since become a key prosecution witness.
He is now placed in the witness protection programme and given 24-hour police guards.
Rosmah is on trial for soliciting RM187.5 million and two counts of receiving bribes totalling RM6.5 million from Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd managing director Saidi Abang Samsuddin.
The bribes were allegedly received through Rizal as a reward for helping Jepak Holdings secure the RM1.25 bllion solar hybrid project for 369 schools in the interior of Sarawak.
Rosmah was accused of committing the offences between January 2016 and Sept 2017.
The trial continues on Thursday.