The Malaysian Insight

ROSMAH Mansor has filed a last-minute bid to recuse judge Zaini Mazlan who is presiding her multimillion ringgit corruption trial.

Zaini is set to deliver his verdict tomorrow morning in the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

The application was filed by Messrs Akberdin & Co yesterday afternoon and the cause papers were served on the prosecution at the same time.

In the application sighted by The Malaysian Insight, Rosmah is seeking to recuse Zaini over an allegedly leaked judgment published by blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin.

“Respectfully, the publication of the article (by the blog) has made the applicant lose confidence in the judge in the solar trial, let alone give a verdict on it on September 1,” the application said.

A lengthy document entitled “Rosmah Mansor will be pronounced guilty on 1st September 2022” was recently published on the Malaysia Today portal owned by Raja Petra,

Raja Petra said alleged guilty verdict was not written by the trial judge but on behalf of his behalf by persons unknown.

Another article on the portal, “Download Or View The 71-Page judgment And Guilty Verdict On Rosmah Mansor Here” allowed users to access the full version of the document.

Checks showed the document was prepared by the Research Unit of the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

Rosmah’s lawyer Akberdin Abdul Kader said in the recusal application that the documents had raised doubts over the the integrity of the judge.

“The revelation that were made in the articles has a basis and is authentic, since the chief registrar of the Federal Court of Malaysia does not deny the existence of the 71-page judgment, as can be understood through an article in The Star entitled ‘Alleged leaked judgment on Rosmah’s case not a final copy, only a reference, say cops’”.

The lawyer said that the judgment was not prepared by Zaini was in breach of the code of ethics for the officers of the court.

The lawyer is seeking to postpone the verdict pending the disposal of the hearing to recuse Zaini and the completion of a police probe into the leaked judgment. 

Rosmah is charged with soliciting RM187.5 million from Jepak Holdings managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin in 2016 in exchange for help in landing a RM1.25 government contract to outfit rural schools in Sarawak with solar equipment.

She is also accused of receiving RM1.5 million and RM5 million from the company at the prime minister’s official residence and again at her Jalan Langgak Duta private residence in Kuala Lumpur between December 2016 and September 2017.

If found guilty, Rosmah could be jailed for up to 20 years and fined five times the amount received or solicited under section 24(1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption (MACC) Act 2009.

She is represented by Jagjit Singh, Akberdin Abdul Kader and Azrul Zulkifli Stork while the prosecution is led by Gopal Sri Ram.

The hearing commenced in February 2020 and ended on February 23 this year. – August 31, 2022.