KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 16): A decision on Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor's letters of representation in her second criminal trial concerning a RM7.1 million money laundering and tax evasion case is still pending as the prosecution is in the midst of taking statements from some individuals.
"There are still some statements to be taken by some individual witnesses [in order] to complete the investigation so we can come up with a thorough decision," deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib told the court on Tuesday (Jan 16).
Previously, the wife of imprisoned former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had sent three letters of representation seeking to drop all 17 charges against her.
Besides this, her counsels have also filed an application to strike out all the charges against her on the grounds that they were baseless, defective, premature and/or did not disclose any legal offence.
Tuesday was initially set for the continuation of parties' submissions of the application. However, it was adjourned as Rosmah was taken ill.
Lead defence counsel Datuk Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin sought the postponement as his client was not present today. He said that since this is a substantial criminal application, the presence of the accused person is important. The prosecution did not object.
High Court judge Muniandy Kannyappan reminded parties that there are still many drug and murder cases pending before the court. He then set March 1 for a mention date.
In this trial, Rosmah faces 17 charges involving RM7.1 million transferred into her personal bank account between 2013 and 2017.
The charges were framed under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 (AMLA).
On the first eight counts, she is charged with money laundering by directly engaging in a transaction involving proceeds of unlawful activities amounting to RM1.1 million that were deposited into her account.
On the ninth to 12th counts, she is charged with directly engaging in 227 transactions involving proceeds of unlawful activities totalling RM6 million, which were also deposited into her account.
On the 13th to 17th counts, she is charged with engaging in money laundering by failing to file a return on the sum that was deposited into her account as required under the Income Tax Act 1967.
This is Rosmah's second criminal trial. In September 2022, 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.