Rosmah loses bid to view Sri Ram's appointment letter

ROSMAH TRIAL | The Kuala Lumpur High Court today dismissed an application by Rosmah Mansor to compel former Federal Court judge Gopal Sri Ram to produce his licence to prosecute her case.

Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan said Sri Ram’s appointment in 2018 was made by then-attorney general (AG) Tommy Thomas and that there was no evidence to the contrary.

In delivering his ruling, Zaini said the applicant had not given any justification for Sri Ram to produce his letter of appointment.

"More importantly, the applicant had not given any basis to contend that she has the right to demand a copy of the letter of appointment," said Zaini.

He further noted that Sri Ram had prosecuted the case from the beginning and neither the applicant nor her counsels had objected to his presence.

"There must be cogent reasons for every application and there seems to be none here," he said.

As such, the judge said Sri Ram's appointment had been legitimately made by the AG unless there was evidence to prove otherwise.

"The application is therefore dismissed," he said.

Last month, Rosmah filed an application to compel Sri Ram, who is leading the prosecution in her solar hybrid trial to produce his licence to prosecute.

Sri Ram was also appointed to lead the prosecution team in Rosmah’s husband Najib Razak’s 1MDB trial.

Rosmah is facing three charges pertaining to the alleged misappropriation of funds for the supply and installation of solar energy panels at 369 schools in rural Sarawak for the Education Ministry.

Rosmah faces one count of soliciting RM187.5 million and two charges of receiving a bribe of RM6.5 million from Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd former 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.

Heated exchange ala Parliament

Zaini delivered his judgement after having earlier presided over Rosmah's trial, with Saidi under cross-examination by defence counsels Akberdin Abdul Kader and Azrul Zulkifli Stork.

At one point, a heated exchange sparked by objections from DPP Ahmad Akram Gharib to Azrul's line of questions led Zaini to remark, "You all have been watching too much (of) Parliament".

Azrul suggested to Saidi that an RM1.5 million cash withdrawal made from his Maybank Islamic account on Sept 7, 2017, was used for a list of personal expenditures rather than to be given to Rosmah as alleged in his witness statement.

"If we sum it up, the total (expenditure) is around RM1.5 million. That is the money that you withdrew, do you agree?," suggested Azrul to which Saidi replied, "I disagree".

He also insisted that the RM1.5 million was delivered to the prime minister's official residence at Jalan Langgak Duta while the other expenditures were funded from other sources including cash he kept at home.

Azrul further asked whether Saidi was previously questioned by the MACC over the sum, to which he said, "Yes".

"I don't remember," said Saidi when further quizzed on his previous statements to the MACC.

Azrul then asked whether Saidi would like to refer to his statement to the MACC, and if so, the defence could make an application for the document to be produced in court.

In raising his objection, Akram argued that Saidi had repeatedly stated that the RM1.5 million was given to Rosmah but the defence was attempting to go on a "fishing expedition" with queries on the MACC probe.

Two other prosecution witnesses also took the stand today - Companies Commission Malaysia assistant registrar Rafidah Yahya and MACC forensic investigator Moses Anak Lawrence.

The trial resumes on Sept 7. - Mkini