PUTRAJAYA: A petition of appeal filed on behalf of Rosmah Mansor has listed 127 reasons why the Court of Appeal must set aside both her conviction and sentence in a RM1.25 billion hybrid solar project for 369 rural schools in Sarawak.
The petition, which outlines where trial judge Zaini Mazlan is said to have erred on the facts and in law, was filed in the Court of Appeal yesterday through her solicitors, Akberdin & Co.
Her lawyers said the wife of former prime minister Najib Razak should have been acquitted without her defence being called as the prosecution had failed to prove all the elements in the three corruption charges brought against her.
“(The calling of her defence) has seriously prejudiced her,” they said, adding that Zaini did not provide reasons when ruling last year that the prosecution had established a prima facie case.
Zaini had ruled on Sept 1 that Rosmah, 70, had solicited RM187.5 million from former Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin.
This was done through her former aide, Rizal Mansor, as an inducement to help the company secure the project.
The judge also found that she had received a RM5 million bribe from Saidi, through Rizal, at Seri Perdana in Putrajaya on Dec 20, 2016, and another RM1.5 million from Saidi at Jalan Langgak Duta on Sept 7, 2017.
She was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine of RM970 million.
In his 116-page judgment, Zaini said Rosmah’s defence was a bare denial devoid of credible evidence, and did not create a reasonable doubt in the prosecution’s case.
The petition claims that Rizal was the mastermind of the entire scheme and used Rosmah’s position and influence without her knowledge to achieve his personal and political agenda.
Rizal was acquitted after the prosecution withdrew charges against him to become their key witness.
The lawyers also claim that Zaini ought to have found that former education minister Mahdzir Khalid, Madinah Mohamed and Alias Ahmad, who appeared as prosecution witnesses, were not credible as they were also involved in wrongdoing in relation to the project.
They said the judge also failed to appreciate Rosmah’s defence that the money was a political donation for Najib in preparation for the 2018 general election.
The lawyers said that, viewed in totality, Zaini had erred in his analysis by coming to a decision which contradicted the evidence adduced at trial.
They said the judge had erred in concluding that Rosmah interfered in government affairs when Najib was the prime minister.
They also said Zaini was wrong to impose a heavy sentence and had failed to consider mitigating factors.
Rosmah’s solicitors also filed a separate petition of appeal alleging that Zaini was wrong in refusing to recuse himself from the trial on the ground that a third party purportedly prepared the judgment which convicted her.
Dismissing Rosmah’s last-minute bid to disqualify him, Zaini said he wrote all his judgments based on law and facts. - FMT
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