KUALA LUMPUR (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Former Malaysian education minister Mahdzir Khalid said he is mulling legal action against a witness in a court trial who alleged in court that the politician had received "gratification" from a solar project in Sarawak.

Datuk Seri Mahdzir, 59, one of Umno's three vice-presidents, said he is obtaining legal advice over the matter, and will take the necessary action to safeguard his reputation and interest.

"I cannot decide on any legal action yet because I don't know what was said by Rayyan Radzwill Abdullah in court. I have asked my lawyer to obtain court notes so I can comment further on this matter.

"Nevertheless, I urge the public and media practitioners to refrain from making assumptions based on limited sources, " he said in a statement distributed to reporters in Parliament on Tuesday (Aug 4).

He was referring to reports quoting business consultant Mr Rayyan, 40, who told the High Court on Monday (Aug 3) that Mr Mahdzir had asked for a commission from Jepak Holdings as gratification for being awarded the RM1.25 billion (S$407 million) solar hybrid project for Sarawak schools, from the Education Ministry in 2016.

Mr Rayyan was speaking as a witness at the trial of Rosmah Mansor, the wife of ex-premier Najib Razak, involving the solar project.

Rosmah, 69, is facing a charge of soliciting RM187.5 million and two counts of receiving a total of RM6.5 million in exchange for helping Jepak win the solar energy project.

Commenting further on Mr Rayyan's allegations, Mr Mahdzir said that a court's function is to determine whether a certain fact is false or correct.

"Everyone, myself included, must respect that function and not supersede the court in this matter, " he added.