Court axes appeal bid by Rosmah

Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor has failed to obtain leave to appeal against an Appeals Court ruling over her bid to challenge the validity of the appointment of the late Datuk Gopal Sri Ram as lead prosecutor and to nullify her solar hybrid project corruption trial.

A three-member Federal Court panel led by Appeals Court President Tan Sri Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim dismissed her application and ordered her to pay costs of RM30,000.

Justice Abang Iskandar said her application did not meet the threshold requirements of Section 96 of the Courts of Judicature

Act 1964.

“There are no novel issues that have been shown that would merit further ventilation,” he said, adding that there were no issues of public importance for consideration by the court.

The other two judges were justices Datuk Nordin Hassan and Datuk Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil.

Rosmah, who is the wife of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak, had filed a leave application to commence a judicial review at the High Court on June 24, 2022 and named the attorneygeneral, the government and Sri Ram as respondents.

She sought a declaration that the appointment of Sri Ram as senior DPP through three letters of appointment dated July 8, 2020, May 11 and May 21, 2021 was unlawful.

Rosmah, 72, also sought a declaration that the entire proceedings and full trial of her solar hybrid project corruption trial, which took place from Nov 15, 2018 until the defence closed the case, were invalid and void and that she must be acquitted of all charges under Section 16(a)(A) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009.

On Aug 30, 2022, the High Court dismissed her application. After the Appeals Court dismissed her appeal on June 22 last year, she applied for leave to appeal to the Federal Court.

On Sept 1, 2022, High Court Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan (now an Appeals Court judge) found Rosmah guilty of the corruption charges in the solar hybrid project case and sentenced her to 10 years in jail and fined her RM970 million.

She has filed an appeal against her conviction and sentence and is out on a RM2 million bail. Her appeal is fixed for case management on April 23.

Former federal court judge Sri Ram passed away at the age of 79 in January last year. – Bernama