This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on February 22, 2021 - February 28, 2021

COME June 9, and for the next eight days or so, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor and her defence team will have the opportunity to convince the High Court that she is not guilty of three corruption charges involving a government solar project after the court ruled that she had a case to answer.

Rosmah, who turned 69 last December, has elected to testify under oath from the witness stand after Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan decided the prosecution had made out a prima facie case against her.

In so deciding, Rosmah has opted to follow her husband Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who elected to testify under oath from the witness stand after the court ordered the former prime minister to enter his defence on seven charges, including abuse of power related to the misappropriation of RM42 million belonging to SRC International Sdn Bhd. Subsequently, the High Court found him guilty of all seven charges and sentenced him to 12 years’ jail and imposed a fine of RM210 million. Najib’s appeal will be heard by the appellate court on April 5.

On the sidelines following last Thursday’s court decision, senior deputy public prosecutor Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram assured the media that he would personally be questioning Rosmah in June as she will be subjected to cross-examination by the prosecution after she gives her testimony during her examination-in-chief by her lawyers.

Last week, the judge found that Rosmah has a case to answer on all three charges related to a RM1.25 billion solar-hybrid project for 369 rural schools in Sarawak. She is charged with soliciting, through her aide Datuk Rizal Mansor, a RM187.5 million bribe from Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin in exchange for her assistance in ensuring the award of the government project to Jepak.

Najib’s wife also faces two charges of receiving from Saidi a total of RM6.5 million — RM5 million and RM1.5 million — at her official residence in Seri Perdana, Putrajaya, and also her private residence in Jalan Langgak Duta, between Dec 20, 2016 and Sept 7, 2017.

Rosmah arrived at the Kuala Lumpur court complex last Thursday wearing a yellow baju kurung and matching yellow tudung as well as a rainbow coloured mask. Najib arrived separately 10 minutes later.

Before reaching his decision, Mohamed Zaini had admitted into evidence an audio recording and transcript that had been intercepted by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commision (MACC) and released to the public early last year. This reversed an initial decision he had made before the prosecution closed its case in January to disallow the recording.

In presenting his decision, the judge said the court had given maximum evaluation to the prosecution’s case and found that it had succeeded in proving a prima facie case against the accused. “It is my finding that the prosecution has adduced credible evidence to prove every element of the offences under all three charges which, if unrebutted or unexplained, would warrant a conviction. I call upon the accused to enter her defence,” he added, without providing the grounds for his decision.

Mohamed Zaini said the prosecution had established sufficient evidence to invoke the statutory presumption of guilt against Rosmah, as stipulated under Section 50 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009. Her defence team of Datuk Jagjit Singh, Datuk Akberdin Abdul Kader and Azrul Zulkifli Stork will have to create doubt in the prosecution’s case as the court must be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt — the burden of proof in a criminal case — that she is guilty of the three charges before it can convict her.

Jagjit told the media that the defence felt they were handicapped as the judge had not provided the grounds for his decision. But he indicated that Najib was a potential witness — one of five or six for the defence — apart from 10 other witnesses offered by the prosecution. These include a Special Action Unit policeman called “Vivo”, who had accompanied Saidi from Pavilion KL to Seri Perdana to purportedly deliver the bags of money to Seri Perdana.

If convicted, Rosmah faces a maximum terms of 20 years’ jail and a minimum fine of RM10,000, or five times the bribe amount for each charge.

Apart from the solar-hybrid trial, Rosmah is facing a second trial, in which she is charged with 17 counts of money laundering and tax evasion involving RM7.09 million. Mohamed Zaini has offered to recuse himself from hearing that case.

Najib himself is on trial in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd-Tanore (1MDB) case, in which he faces 21 counts of money laundering involving RM2.28 billion of 1MDB funds and four charges of abuse of power.

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