KUALA LUMPUR: Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor has applied to disqualify High Court judge Justice Mohamed Zaini Mazlan from presiding over her corruption trial involving the RM1.25bil solar hybrid project in Sarawak.
The judge is scheduled to deliver his verdict this morning.
The eleventh hour application was filed through Messrs Akberdin & Co on Tuesday.
In her notice of motion, Rosmah said that on Aug 26, she came across an article by blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin titled “Rosmah Mansor Will Be Pronounced Guilty On 1st September 2022”.
She said she was shocked as the article claimed that the judgment against her was ready and that it was purportedly not prepared by the judge himself and allegedly prepared on his behalf.
She also claimed there was a second article by the author with a link to the purported 71-page judgment which could be downloaded easily.
She said the revelation by the author had made her lose confidence in the trial judge, especially in the upcoming decision on Sept 1 (today).
The wife of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said if this matter was not resolved first, it would prejudice her rights under the law as there was a breach of judicial conduct by the judge.
Rosmah is seeking a court order for the Sept 1 decision to be stayed pending the disposal of the recusal application.
She is also seeking a court order for the recusal application to be heard and decided before a different criminal High Court, and other reliefs deemed fit by the court.
In the solar hybrid trial, Rosmah, 70, is facing one charge of soliciting RM187.5mil and two charges of accepting bribes amounting to RM6.5mil from the former managing director of Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd, Saidi Abang Samsudin.
The bribe was allegedly received through her former aide Datuk Rizal Mansor as a reward to help Jepak Holdings obtain the Integrated Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Hybrid System Project as well as genset/diesel maintenance and operations for 369 schools worth RM1.25bil through direct negotiations from the Education Ministry.
