PUTRAJAYA (Sept 17): One of the prosecution’s star witnesses in Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor's graft case involving a solar hybrid project for rural schools in Sarawak will not take the stand just yet to give his additional evidence.
This comes after the Court of Appeal (COA) on Thursday granted a stay to the prosecution, pending the disposal of their appeal on the decision which has allowed Rayyan Radzwill Abdullah to produce fresh evidence, despite the completion of the case back in 2022.
A three-member COA panel led by Datuk Azhahari Kamal Ramli, who sat with Datuk Choo Kah Sing and K Muniandy, granted the stay application as there were no objections from the defence.
Subsequently, the October trial dates set for the main appeal in this case have been vacated.
Addressing the panel earlier, Rosmah's counsel, Datuk Amer Hamzah Arshad, said that the defence did not object to the application to ensure the entire process is done efficiently. He added that the prosecution has agreed to try to expedite the appeal at the apex court.
"We had some serious discussions [with the prosecution], where DPP (deputy public prosecutor) Datuk Ahmad Akram [Gharib] impressed upon us the importance of this appeal [which] involves a key witness," Amer said.
The prosecution filed the application on Sept 8. There are no dates set yet for the appeal at the Federal Court.
Besides Amer, lawyers Datuk Jagjit Singh, Datuk Akberdin Abdul Kader, and Datuk Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin appeared for Rosmah.
Besides Akram, the prosecution was represented by Mohd Asnawi Abu Hanipah and Mohamad Mustafa P Kunyalam on Thursday.
The prosecution is appealing against the same panel's decision on Sept 1, which allowed Rosmah's application to adduce fresh evidence pertaining to Rayyan, 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.
The panel ordered for a High Court judge to take the evidence.
Following this, High Court judge Datuk Aslam Zainuddin had set Thursday (Sept 17) for Rayyan to take the stand.
The application to adduce fresh evidence is Rosmah's latest application linked to her graft appeal involving a solar hybrid project for 369 rural schools in Sarawak.
In September 2022, Rosmah, who is 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.
The 74-year-old was found guilty of soliciting and receiving bribes from Saidi Abang Samsudin, the managing director of Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd, the company which secured the project. Rayyan was Saidi’s business partner at the material time.
The appeal proper has yet to begin, given all the interlocutory applications and appeals.
Specifically in this application, Rosmah wants to admit Rayyan’s police report lodged on July 10 this year, and a statutory declaration dated the same, where the prosecution’s 16th witness claims that his witness statement did not encapsulate all that he wanted to convey, and when he pointed this out to the prosecution, he claims the late Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram had intimidated him to follow the prosecution’s narrative.