ROSMAH TRIAL | The Kuala Lumpur High Court has rejected an application by Rosmah Mansor’s defence to bar media reporting on certain disputed parts of her former aide Rizal Mansor’s witness statement.
Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan dismissed the application by the defence team during open-court proceedings this morning.
Earlier, Rosmah’s defence team raised multiple objections against certain parts of Rizal’s written statement as it was purportedly both highly prejudicial and amounted to character assassination of the accused, among others.
Defence counsel Jagjit Singh had informed the court that it must prevent the media from reporting what is being read out from Rizal's witness statement during the prosecution’s examination-in-chief today.
He said that this is because the court needed to first make a ruling on whether these disputed portions of the witness statement are admissible or not in trial, among others.
“The evidence has not been tested yet on admissibility. This is pure character assassination,” Jagjit told the court.
Jagjit added that the allegations in the witness statement are extremely prejudicial, adding that the court should deal with the issue now rather than wait for the matter be raised again later at the close of the prosecution’s case.
“All these allegations in the paragraphs are extremely prejudicial. At a later stage, this would all be water under the bridge.
“Objections should be taken earlier and dealt with now,” Jagjit said.
However, Zaini ruled that the court will not bar media reporting of what Rizal testified in proceedings today.
The judge added that the defence is at liberty to not only deal with the issue by cross-examining the prosecution witness later, but also by raising the issue of admissibility at the end of the prosecution’s case.
“I am sorry, I am not of the mind to bar media reporting. You are at liberty to cross-examine the witness,” Zaini said, before indicating to the witness to carry on reading from the 46-page witness statement.
The judge assured the defence that he is not affected by public perception due to any media reporting and that he will remain impartial in deciding on the case.
Rosmah, the wife of former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, is facing three charges on the alleged misappropriation of funds for the supply and installation of solar energy panels at 369 rural schools in Sarawak for the Education Ministry.
She faces one count of allegedly soliciting RM187.5 million and two charges of purportedly receiving a bribe of RM6.5 million from Jepak Holdings managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin as a reward for helping the company secure the RM1.25 billion project obtained through direct negotiations with the ministry. - Mkini
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