KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court has fixed Dec 19 to deliver its decision in Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor's application to quash her charges in the RM7mil money laundering and tax evasion case.
Justice K. Muniandy set the date after hearing submissions from both parties here on Tuesday (Nov 12).
Rosmah had filed to quash her 12 charges of money laundering involving more than RM7mil and five charges of failing to declare her personal income to the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN) on Oct 4, 2020.
Her defence team argued that the charges against the wife of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak were bad in law and infringed her right to a fair trial under Article 5 of the Federal Constitution.
They also submitted that the non-declaration of income tax could never be a predicate offence on its own.
Meanwhile, the prosecution had contended that the charges against Rosmah, each pertaining to a separate and distinct criminal act occurring at different times, were not flawed.
The prosecution also said that the court was fully capable of determining whether the income is taxable, and it should not be bound by any determination made by the Income Tax Commissioner before trial, as this would violate the accused's right to challenge the evidence and contest key elements of the case.
In 2018, Rosmah, 72, was charged with five counts of allegedly engaging in money laundering by failing to furnish a return on the RM7,097,750 income deposited into her bank account, which she was required to do under the Income Tax Act 1967.
The five charges were framed under Section 4(1)(a) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001.
Rosmah also faces 12 counts of engaging directly in transactions involving proceeds of unlawful activity by causing RM7,097,750 to be deposited into her bank account.
She allegedly committed all the offences at Affin Bank Berhad, Natural Rubber Building Branch, Jalan Ampang between Dec 4, 2013, and June 8, 2017, and at the LHDN office in Government Complex, Jalan Tuanku Abdul Halim here, from May 1, 2014, to May 1, 2018.
Lawyers Datuk Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin and Amer Hamzah Arshad appeared for Rosmah while Deputy Public Prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib appeared for the prosecution.
