KUALAL LUMPUR: The High Court today set Sept 17 to hear additional evidence from the star prosecution witness, Rayyan Radzwill Abdullah, in Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor’s solar hybrid project graft trial.
Judge Datuk Aslam Zainuddin fixed the date after Rosmah’s counsel, Datuk Jagjit Singh, told the court that the Court of Appeal had allowed Rosmah’s application to adduce additional evidence in her appeal and directed that the additional evidence be recorded by the High Court.
“I have to fix the dates because the order of the Court of Appeal is quite clear. I think we will fix the hearing dates in accordance with the order of the Court of Appeal until a stay is granted.
“If a stay is granted, then we will take it from there. If not, we will proceed as ordered by the Court of Appeal. If I don’t comply with the order, I will be in contempt of court,” Judge Aslam said before fixing Sept 17 for the hearing.
On Sept 1, the Court of Appeal allowed the wife of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to adduce additional evidence in her appeal against her conviction and sentence in the RM1.25 billion solar hybrid project case.
The panel ordered that the additional evidence be obtained from Rayyan Radzwill, the 16th prosecution witness, through further cross-examination and re-examination.
Earlier, Jagjit said the Court of Appeal had already issued a specific order directing that case management be held today and requiring the High Court to record the additional evidence within two weeks.
“The Court of Appeal had also fixed the continuation of the criminal appeals for October, leaving a very tight timeline. The prosecution has filed a stay application, but no date has been fixed yet. We urge the court to proceed with fixing the dates,” he said.
Deputy public prosecutor Deepa Nair told the court that the prosecution had filed a notice of appeal on Sept 4 to the Federal Court against the Court of Appeal’s decision.
“We also filed an application to stay the Court of Appeal’s decision on Sept 8, and I have checked that there is no date yet. We have already put in a notice of urgency, so it’s not going to take much time.
“The matter will most probably be heard next week. Therefore, we seek for it to be adjourned pending the hearing of the stay application in the Court of Appeal,” she submitted.
She added that Rosmah’s appeal had been pending since 2022, and that the defence would not be prejudiced by a further postponement of a mere week or two.
Rosmah’s other counsel, Datuk Akberdin Abdul Kader, objected to the adjournment, saying that the Court of Appeal had ordered that the matter be disposed of within two weeks.
“We only need one day. I handled the cross-examination at the High Court and will be doing so here as well,” he said.
Rosmah, 74, sought to adduce the additional evidence, consisting of a police report and a statutory declaration affirmed by Rayyan.
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COURT-ROSMAH 4 (LAST) PUTRAJAYA
In the declaration, Rayyan allegedly claimed that he had been subjected to pressure from the prosecution during the trial.
On Sept 1, 2022, the High Court convicted Rosmah on three corruption charges under Section 16(a)(A) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009.
She was found guilty of soliciting RM187.5 million and accepting RM6.5 million in bribes from Saidi Abang Samsudin, the former managing director of Jepak Holdings, through her former aide, Datuk Rizal Mansor.
The bribes were an inducement to help Jepak Holdings secure the RM1.25 billion solar hybrid project for 369 rural schools in Sarawak from the Education Ministry.
Rosmah was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment on each charge, to run concurrently, and was also fined RM970 million. She was subsequently granted a stay of execution pending the disposal of her appeal.
— BERNAMA
