PUTRAJAYA: An 11th hour request from Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor to recuse two judges of the Federal Court was shot down, and her absence in court yesterday has pushed the hearing to March 3.
Rosmah’s lawyer Datuk Jagjit Singh told the three-judge panel that he has been instructed by the wife of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, to seek the recusal of Justices Nordin Hassan and Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali.
Jagjit said the oral application was made based on the fact that the two judges had appeared before another matter involving Rosmah, who was then trying to recuse the late Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram from the prosecution team, at the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court stages.
“So it’s because your client is uncomfortable with me around?
“Is there a real danger of bias based on the two cases you mentioned just now?” Justice Nordin said, telling the lawyer that he should be advising his client and not the other way around.
Jagjit insisted that he was merely taking instructions from his client.
The matter was put to rest when Justice Nordin, who chaired the panel, dismissed the application.
“With the regards to the application to recuse myself and Justice Che Mohd Ruzima, we find there is no real danger of bias for us to recuse ourselves. The application is dismissed,” he said.
The apex court then queried Jagjit on Rosmah’s absence. The lawyer said Rosmah was unwell and sought to postpone the hearing.
“The appellant is on medical leave. She sustained a fall but managed to prevent a complete fall. But in the process, she injured her hand as well as her knees,” Jagjit said.
The third judge on the panel, Justice Azimah Omar, then questioned if Rosmah was hospitalised.
Jagjit said Rosmah was advised to do so “but she didn’t want to be admitted”.
Justice Azimah then said that Rosmah should have been hospitalised as she had been given sick leave until Feb 28.
“If you say she is not well to come to court because of the fall and she can’t even attend court, she should be in the hospital,” the judge said.
Justice Azimah noted that the defence was asking for an adjournment for a matter in the Federal Court that was “long pending”.
Meanwhile, deputy public prosecutor Mangaiarkarasi Krishnan said the prosecution did not object to the adjournment request and left it to the court to decide.
Co-counsel Datuk Akberdin Abdul Kader, who appeared for Rosmah, asked the court to fix a new date after Hari Raya.
Justice Nordin, however, refused saying the court would only allow a short adjournment and for parties to reconvene on March 3.
Rosmah is appealing the Court of Appeal’s decision not to recuse the high court trial judge who presided over her RM1.25bil corruption trial linked to a solar hybrid project in Sarawak.
Rosmah had first wanted to recuse Justice Mohamed Zaini Mazlan, now a Court of Appeal judge, from presiding over her case just before the judge was slated to deliver his decision on Sept 1, 2022.
On the same day, she was found guilty of three corruption charges linked to the solar hybrid project and sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined RM970mil, in default of 30 years in prison.
Rosmah was charged with one count of soliciting RM187.5mil and two counts of receiving RM6.5mil in bribes from former Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin, all linked to the solar hybrid project.
She was granted a stay of execution on the sentences pending her appeal against her conviction and sentence at the Court of Appeal.
