PUTRAJAYA: Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor has failed in her application to have the Federal Court review a decision by an earlier panel of the apex court that dismissed her appeal to recuse the trial judge who convicted and sentenced her in the RM1.25bil solar hybrid project case.
A three-judge panel chaired by Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Justice Azizah Nawawi made the dismissal after finding that Rosmah’s application did not satisfy the threshold under Rule 137 of the Rules of the Federal Court 1995.
In the review application, Justice Azizah said Rosmah had raised issues that touched on the merits of the appeal, which the judge said was not a ground for review under Rule 137.
She said the power to review a decision must be exercised “very cautiously” and that it would only be invoked where there was likely a serious injustice and non-effective remedy.
“This court must strictly control such application and cannot use this rule freely or as a general right of appeal.
“Therefore, the application for review is dismissed,” said Justice Azizah yesterday.
Other judges on the panel were Federal Court judges Justices Lee Swee Seng and Ravinthran N. Paramaguru.
On March 3, Rosmah failed in her final appeal to recuse Justice Mohamed Zaini Mazlan from presiding over her graft case and to obtain a retrial.
The Federal Court unanimously dismissed Rosmah’s appeal on the grounds that there was no appealable error warranting the apex court’s intervention.
Justice Mohamed Zaini had convicted Rosmah in her graft trial involving the RM1.25bil solar hybrid project in Sarawak.
The Federal Court also found that Justice Mohamed Zaini, now a Court of Appeal judge, did not violate the Judges’ Code of Ethics following a contro- versy over a leaked draft judgment prepared by the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s research unit prior to his delivering the decision in Rosmah’s case on Sept 1, 2022.
Rosmah made the eleventh-hour application to recuse Justice Mohamed Zaini after the leak, citing allegations that the draft was prepared by a third party and circulated before its official delivery.
Her application was dismissed by the judge, who convicted and sentenced her on the same day.
She later appealed the dismissal at the Court of Appeal, which upheld the decision.
Rosmah was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment on each charge and fined RM970mil, in default 10 years’ imprisonment, in the solar hybrid case.
The Court of Appeal granted her a stay of execution pending the disposal of her appeal against the conviction and sentence.
The hearing for Rosmah’s main appeal in her graft case to set aside her conviction and sentence has been fixed for a 16-day hearing beginning Sept 1.
