KUALA LUMPUR (June 22): The Court of Appeal (COA) has dismissed Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor’s appeal challenging the late Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram’s appointment as lead prosecutor and to nullify her solar hybrid project graft trial.
In delivering its unanimous decision on Thursday (June 22), a three member panel led by COA judge Datuk Hanipah Farikullah ruled that there was no merit in Rosmah’s appeal.
Reading out the brief grounds of judgement, appellate court judge Datuk See Mee Chun said that the application was filed out of time and there were no valid grounds for the court to exercise its discretion to grant an extension.
An application for a judicial review has to be filed within three months from when the grounds for dissatisfaction first arise. Rosmah had filed her judicial application in June last year.
The COA panel found that the grounds for dissatisfaction would have first arisen in April 2021, when a copy of the first letter of appointment was sighted by Rosmah.
“And if the production of the first fiat ought not to be considered due to the existence of the third fiat dated May 21, 2021, which was disclosed to [Rosmah] on that day .... the appellant would still be out of time,” See said.
Rosmah’s similar application around the same issue had previously been dismissed by the Criminal High Court, the COA, and the Federal Court. In brief, the COA and the Federal Court found that the criminal court has no jurisdiction to grant the declaratory reliefs sought by Rosmah.
Rosmah’s counsels Datuk Akberdin Abdul Kader and Datuk Jagjit Singh had previously argued that the application was made within time, as they had waited for the final decision at the Federal Court in May 2022, before proceeding with the judicial review application.
However, the panel on Thursday ruled that the apex court decision cannot be the date from which the prescribed three-month period begins, as the decision does not specifically concern the legality of Sri Ram’s appointment.
The panel, which also included COA judge Datuk Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali, awarded RM10,000 in cost to the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) and the Government of Malaysia.
Senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan and Liew Horng Bin appeared for the respondents.
When contacted, Akberdin said that they will be appealing the decision.
During the hearing last month, the panel had decided that there were still “live issues” to be considered in Rosmah’s appeal despite Sri Ram’s death in January this year.
The issues include the legality of Sri Ram’s letters of appointment dated July 8, 2020, May 11, 2021, and May 21, 2021.
Rosmah, 71, is appealing the High Court’s decision last August which dismissed her leave application to commence judicial review proceedings in which she was challenging the legality of Sri Ram’s letters of appointment, or “fiats”.
In her application, Rosmah was also seeking a declaration that her solar hybrid trial — in which she was found guilty of corruption last September — is null and void.
The High Court had allowed the preliminary objections raised by the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) and said that Rosmah’s application made in June last year was filed out of time.
In September last year, the High Court found Rosmah guilty of all three counts of graft relating to a solar hybrid graft project for 369 schools in rural Sarawak. She was sentenced to 10 years in jail and fined RM970 million.
A stay was granted, pending the disposal of her appeal, which is slated to be heard from July 11.