KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 10): The High Court has set Sept 17 to hear additional evidence from one of the prosecution’s star witnesses in Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor's graft case involving a solar hybrid project for 369 rural schools in Sarawak.
High Court judge Datuk Aslam Zainuddin set the date following a case management on Thursday.
This comes after the Court of Appeal (COA)'s decision on Sept 1, which allowed Rosmah's application to adduce fresh evidence pertaining to the witness, Rayyan Radzwill Abdullah, on the grounds that the new evidence targets the heart of the charges levelled against Rosmah — specifically, on whether she had actively solicited or received gratification, which could change the High Court’s findings.
Rosmah wants to admit Rayyan’s police report lodged on July 10 this year, and a statutory declaration dated on the same date, where the prosecution’s 16th witness claims that his witness statement did not encapsulate all that he wanted to convey, and when he had pointed this out to the prosecution, he claims the late Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram had intimidated him to follow the prosecution’s narrative.
The COA's verdict on Sept 1 only pertains to Rayyan’s evidence, which would be obtained through cross-examination and re-examination. Any other evidence to be introduced must be connected and limited to Rayyan’s evidence. The High Court judge will record the new evidence and send it back to the COA.
In the graft case, Rosmah, 74, is accused of soliciting and receiving bribes from Saidi Abang Samsudin, the managing director of Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd, the company which had secured the project. Rayyan was Saidi’s business partner at the material time.
In this solar case, Rosmah, the wife of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, was found guilty on all three counts of graft and was sentenced to 10 years’ jail and fined a whopping RM970 million — the largest amount ever imposed by the High Court for a graft case.
She is appealing this decision, but the appeal has yet to be heard due to several other applications by Rosmah linked to this case.
Prosecution applies for stay, pending appeal at Fed Court
The prosecution is appealing the decision to the apex court. They have also filed a stay application on Sept 8 to pause any High Court proceedings until the matter at the Federal Court is fully disposed of.
Earlier on Thursday, deputy public prosecutor Deepa Nair Thevahara informed the court of the stay application.
She noted that although the COA has yet to set any dates to hear the application, a certificate of urgency has been filed to expedite the stay hearing. Given that development, she asked for the High Court proceedings to be adjourned.
Deepa noted that this appeal has been pending since 2022, and the defence will not be prejudiced with a further postponement of one or two weeks.
"We have been agreeing to their [requests for postponements] since 2022. We haven't objected. We have already put in a notice of urgency. It won't take long," she said.
She added that the case was unique in nature, as Rosmah has exhausted many of her options through various applications and the prosecution would be prejudiced if the proceedings were to continue further.
Defence challenges prosecution's appeal, arguing that Sept 1 was not a COA decision but a ruling
Rosmah's counsels Datuk Jagjit Singh and Datuk Akberdin Abdul Kader objected to the adjournment.
Jagjit took issue with allegations that there were "delays on the defence's part". He argued that the defence did not voluntarily cause a delay but was merely exhausting all avenues available as was their client's right.
Akberdin said that should the prosecution get a stay, the defence will adhere to that. But as it stands, the Sept 1 COA order states that the matter should be disposed of within two weeks.
"We only need one day. I handled the cross-examination at the High Court and will be doing so here," he said.
Akberdin also added that, among others, they are challenging the prosecution's appeal on the Sept 1 COA verdict, arguing that it was a ruling made within the appeal, as opposed to a separate decision.
He added that as the dates for the appeal proper approaches, they may not have time to complete Rayyan's new evidence if it is delayed further.
Following its decision on Sept 1, the COA had set fresh dates to hear Rosmah's appeal, which is now slated for Oct 14.
After listening to all arguments on Thursday, Aslam said that he would set Sept 17 to hear the new evidence, as he is bound by the COA order before him.
"I have to fix a date, instead of waiting for dates to be fixed [to hear the stay application]. Otherwise, I will be in contempt of court," the judge said.