Apex court sets Nov 29 to hear Rosmah's leave application bid in solar graft case

The Federal Court has fixed Nov 29 to hear Rosmah Mansor's application to seek leave to appeal against the decision of the Court of Appeal, which dismissed her appeal to nullify her solar hybrid trial.

Senior Federal Counsel Shamsul Bolhassan, when contacted by Bernama, confirmed the hearing date, which was fixed following case management before Federal Court deputy registrar Faezahnoor Hassan today.

On July 22, the Court of Appeal dismissed Rosmah's appeal on the grounds that her appeal had no merit.

The wife of former prime minister Najib Razak filed an application in the High Court in June last year, seeking leave to initiate a judicial review.

She named the Attorney-General/public prosecutor, the government of Malaysia, and Gopal Sri Ram (now deceased) as respondents. Sri Ram died on Jan 28 this year.

In the judicial review application, Rosmah sought a declaration that Sri Ram's appointment as senior deputy public prosecutor through three letters of appointment (fiat) dated July 8, 2020, May 11 and May 21, 2021, respectively, was unlawful.

She also sought a declaration that the entire prosecution proceedings and full trial for her solar case, which took place from Nov 15, 2018, until the defence closed the case, were invalid and void and that she must be acquitted of all charges under Section 16(a) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Act 2009.

On Aug 30, last year, the High Court dismissed Rosmah's application, and she filed an appeal to the Court of Appeal, which was also rejected. She then filed an application on July 5, this year, to seek leave to proceed with her appeal to the Federal Court.

She wants the Federal Court to decide five questions of law.

On Sept 1, 2022, High Court judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan (now Court of Appeal judge) found Rosmah guilty of the corruption charges, sentencing her to 10 years in jail with an RM970 million fine.

She has filed an appeal against her conviction and sentence and is currently out on RM2 million bail pending her appeal at the Court of Appeal.