The criminal court for the third time allowed Rosmah Mansor to have her passport temporarily so she could travel to Singapore to visit her daughter, Nooryana Najwa Najib.
A three-person Court of Appeal bench chaired by judge P Ravinthran this morning granted the application by Rosmah’s counsel Jagjit Singh, following no objections from deputy public prosecutor Poh Tih Tinn.
The bench, also chaired by judges Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim and Azman Abdullah, allowed Rosmah to fly to Singapore from today until July 7.
Her passport is currently being held by the criminal court pending the disposal of her appeal against her graft conviction and sentencing.
Back on Oct 15, 2021, when Rosmah was still undergoing a corruption trial linked to the Education Ministry’s RM1.25 billion solar hybrid energy project, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur allowed her passport’s temporary release so she could go to Singapore and give support to Nooryana who was about to give birth.
Then on March 21 this year, the Court of Appeal allowed Rosmah to have her passport temporarily so she could be in Singapore from March 23 to May 5 to visit her daughter and grandson who was unwell.
In the interim on Sept 1 last year, the High Court convicted her in the solar graft case and sentenced her to 10 years in jail and an RM970 million fine.
However, the court granted a stay of execution pending her appeal to the Court of Appeal, which is set for July 11 to 14 this year.
‘My application is proper’
According to the latest application, the wife of incarcerated former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak is seeking a temporary passport return so she could go to the island republic from June 6 to July 7 this year.
However, the June 6 to July 7 period was based on the affidavit in support affirmed by her on June 2 and differed from what the Court of Appeal granted today.
In her affidavit in support, Rosmah claimed that she wishes to visit Nooryana, who is residing in Singapore with her husband, Kazakhstan national Daniyar Kessikbayev.
“On that ground, I humbly apply to this honourable court for permission to allow my international passport to be released to enable me to use it to conduct my personal visitation of my daughter and her family in Singapore,” Rosmah said.
She contended that her legal team had advised her that her application is proper and that the prosecution had no objection to it per the exchange of letters between her lawyers and prosecutors dated May 26 and June 1.
Rosmah said she knows the consequences if she goes against the court order for her to attend her criminal proceedings.
“Until today, I have never failed and/or been negligent to attend court mentions and trials without reasonable explanations and/or excuses,” she said.
She pointed out that the court had on the previous two occasions in 2021 and in March this year allowed her similar applications, which also did not raise any objections from the prosecution.
“Therefore, I make an undertaking to surrender the passport to this honourable court the soonest, which is latest a week after I have arrived home from the visit,” Rosmah said. - Mkini
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