KUALA LUMPUR (April 23): Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor's appeal against her guilty conviction and sentence over all three counts of graft pertaining to the RM1.25 billion solar hybrid project for 369 rural schools in Sarawak will be heard in October.
The appellate court set Oct 23 and 24 following a case management on Tuesday (April 23). Deputy public prosecutor Poh Yih Tinn confirmed the matter with The Edge when contacted.
During the case management, Rosmah's counsel Datuk Akberdin Abdul Kader also informed the court that they will send in a letter to the court to request that the appeal panel should not be made of judges who have presided over any of Rosmah's court cases.
Rosmah is appealing then High Court judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan's judgement in 2022 where she was found guilty of corruption charges. She was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment and fined a whopping RM970 million.
The court ordered for the jail sentence for all three charges to run concurrently which means the wife of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak faces 10 years' imprisonment.
The trial judge also said that should Rosmah fail to pay the fine, she will be liable to a total of 30 years in jail; 10 years' jail for each count.
The fine — five times the amount of RM187.5 million solicited and RM6.5 million received — is said to be the highest amount imposed by the High Court for a graft case.
A stay of execution on the sentence was granted pending an appeal to the Court of Appeal (COA).
The COA will also hear Rosmah's appeal against her failed application to recuse Judge Zaini on those dates in October.
Her 11th hour application which was made two days before the decision was set to be delivered was based on the purported "leaked judgement".
In dismissing the application Judge Zaini said that the "leaked judgements" were merely opinions written by the court's research team which were neither prepared for him nor on his instructions.
Rosmah, 70, was charged with soliciting RM187.5 million from Jepak Holdings' former managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin 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.
All three charges are framed under Section 16(a)(A) of the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) Act.