KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 1): The High Court on Thursday (Sept 1) found Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor guilty of all three counts of graft in her solar hybrid graft trial involving 369 rural schools in Sarawak.
Rosmah was sentenced to 10 years' jail and fined a whopping RM970 million, the largest amount imposed by the High Court for a graft case.
High Court judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan said should Rosmah fail to pay the fine, she will be liable to a total 30 years in jail, owing to the three charges for which she was found guilty.
In delivering the verdict, Zaini ruled that her defence had failed to raise reasonable doubt against the prosecution's case.
The trial had spanned over 40 days with 23 prosecution witnesses testifying, including her former aide Datuk Rizal Mansor, as the crown witness, along with two former Education Ministry secretaries-general — Tan Sri Dr Madinah Mohamad and Datuk Seri Alias Ahmad — and former education minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid.
Other key prosecution witnesses were Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd former managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin and his former business partner Rayyan Radzwill Abdullah and businessman Datuk Ahmed Farriq Zainul Abidin.
Both Rayyan and Ahmed Farriq had accompanied Saidi on separate occasions to deliver the money to Rosmah at her private and official residences.
Two witnesses including Rosmah testified in her defence, the other being former first lady of Malaysia department head Datuk Seri Siti Azizah Sheikh Abod.
Earlier, Zaini dismissed Rosmah's motion for him to be recused from presiding over the trial before he delivered the verdict.
Rosmah, 70, was charged with soliciting RM187.5 million from Jepak Holdings' Saidi for the RM1.25 billion project awarded by the Education Ministry between April and August 2016.
She was also accused of receiving RM5 million and RM1.5 million from Saidi at her private residence in Jalan Langgak Duta and at the then prime minister's official residence in Seri Perdana between Dec 20, 2016 and Sept 7, 2017.
The prosecution was led by appointed Senior Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram, along with DPPs Ahmad Akram Gharib, Mohd Mustafa P Kunyalam, and Poh Yin Tinn.
Senior counsel Datuk Jagjit Singh along with Datuk Akberdin Abdul Kader and Azrul Zulkifli Stork appeared for Rosmah.
The Edge is covering the trial live here.
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