PUTRAJAYA: There will be no retrial in Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor’s RM1.25bil solar hybrid project corruption case, which saw her being convicted three years ago.
The wife of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has failed in her final bid to recuse trial judge Justice Mohamed Zaini Mazlan and force a retrial.
The Federal Court here unanimously dismissed Rosmah’s bid to recuse the judge, saying there was no appealable error that warranted the apex court’s intervention.
With the decision, Rosmah’s appeal against the conviction will proceed in the Appeals Court.
The three-judge panel, chaired by Justice Nordin Hassan, also found that Justice Mohamed Zaini, now a Court of Appeal judge, did not violate the Judges Code of Ethics following a controversy over a leaked draft judgment.
The judgment had been prepared by the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s research unit before he delivered his decision in Rosmah’s case on Sept 1, 2022.
He found her guilty in the case involving the project in Sarawak and sentenced her to 10 years in jail and a RM970mil fine.
Rosmah made an 11th hour application to recuse the judge after the leak, claiming the draft was prepared by a third party and leaked before its official delivery.
Her application was shot down by the judge. She later appealed the dismissal at the Court of Appeal, which also turned her down.
In yesterday’s decision, Justice Nordin said that while the existence of the draft judgment was undisputed, the judge had stated in his grounds for dismissal that he did not rely on the draft.
“Instead, he prepared his grounds of judgment based on his own research and submissions by parties in the case,” Justice Nordin said.
The Federal Court also noted that the Court of Appeal had perused the draft judgment by the research unit and the grounds of judgment in the trial and found there was a difference between the two.
“The Court of Appeal concluded that the trial judge had prepared the grounds of judgment himself without relying on the draft.
“We have also considered the submissions by the applicant and found that it did not prove the existence of real danger of bias.
“The appeal is dismissed,” Justice Nordin added.
The two other judges on the panel were Justices Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali and Azimah Omar.
Rosmah’s lawyer Datuk Jagjit Singh(pic) later told reporters that he would be taking instructions from his client on whether to file for a review of the Federal Court’s decision.
His co-counsel Datuk Akberdin Abdul Kader said the defence would be focusing on Rosmah’s main appeal against her conviction and sentence.
Rosmah had been 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.
