The Court of Appeal has ordered the Kuala Lumpur High Court to examine additional evidence that came to light at the start of Rosmah Mansor’s appeal hearing today within two weeks from Sept 10.
In a twist in the long-awaited appeal, the wife of former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak applied to adduce additional evidence - a sworn statutory declaration (SD) and supporting affidavit affirmed by the prosecution’s 16th witness, Rayyan Radzwill Abdullah.
Rayyan, the former business partner of former Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd managing director Saidi Abang Samsuddin, was one of the three key prosecution witnesses in the case.
In his SD, he alleged that then lead prosecutor, the late Gopal Sri Ram, intimidated and threatened him to testify against Rosmah.
Rayyan claimed in the sworn document that, among other things, Sri Ram had told him: “This witch might be innocent in this case, but this is the only chance to nail her for all the sins she did to the country, so please cooperate, or you will face big trouble."
The panel allowed Rosmah’s application per Section 61 of the Malaysian Courts of Judicature Act 1964, finding that refusing such application would risk a miscarriage of justice.
“The appellant's (Rosmah's) defence could not have reasonably expected to obtain the evidence that was allegedly suppressed, or in private control of a prosecution witness, during the trial.
“Allegations that the witness testimony was compromised by prosecutorial pressures strike at the integrity of the fact-finding process,” said judge Choo Kah Sing, who read out the panel’s decision.
Presiding with him were judges Azhahari Kamal Ramli, who led today’s panel, and K Muniandy.
Case management
Subsequently, the panel fixed Sept 10 for case management at the lower court, in ordering the matter to be heard before a new High Court judge within two weeks after the fixed date.
The panel clarified that the High Court will examine Rayyan’s witness statement along with his SD and additional affidavit. The witness will also go through the prosecution’s cross-examination.
The panel had initially fixed 18 days in September to hear Rosmah’s appeal, starting today.
However, in light of the matter, the appeal hearing has been pushed to Oct 14 to 16, and Oct 19 to 23.
After today’s proceedings, Rosmah’s lawyer Akberdin Abdul Kader told the media that the High Court will prepare a report for the Court of Appeal’s perusal, as part of hearing Rosmah’s appeal.
Rosmah, 74, is appealing against her guilty conviction over three graft charges linked to the RM1.25 billion solar hybrid project.
In 2022, the High Court sentenced Rosmah to 10 years in jail and a record RM970 million fine, with an additional 30 years’ imprisonment if she fails to pay.
Rayyan’s SD
In 2020, Rayyan testified that Saidi admitted paying RM6.5 million to Rosmah for her assistance in aiding the company to secure the project.
Six years later, in his SD and supporting affidavit, affirmed on July 20 this year, Rayyan claimed he faced prosecutorial pressure to testify, and that some material evidence he gave to the prosecution at that time was not included in his witness statement.
“I wish to emphasise that the process of preparing my witness statement resulted in a document that did not contain all the relevant matters I wanted to convey to present the true picture of the incident.
“There were relevant points I had raised that were omitted, while other statements were included as if I had personally witnessed events that I had not actually seen myself.
“I was also warned that I would only be called as a witness if I was helpful, and that there was a possibility of being charged if I refused to testify as a prosecution witness.
However, I disregarded such threats and maintained my objection (at that time),” said Rayyan in his supporting affidavit. - Mkini
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