After Najib, Rosmah also found guilty of corruption

KUALA LUMPUR: Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor now finds herself in a similar predicament to her husband and jailed former prime minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, as she was found guilty of corruption charges by the High Court here today .

Rosmah's defence failed to create any doubt in the corruption charges involving an RM1.25 billion solar hybrid project for 369 rural schools in Sarawak.

Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan sentenced Rosmah, 70, to a total of 30 years' jail and RM970 million fine, in default 10 years' jail, after finding her guilty on all three corruption charges

Rosmah was sentenced to 10 years in prison for each charge.

However, she will only serve 10 years in prison as Mohamed Zaini ordered for all the jail sentences to run concurrently.

The court then granted Rosmah's request for a stay of execution pending an appeal.

During mitigation, Rosmah cried when she told the judge that she was innocent and had never thought of embezzling the country's money.

Rosmah, who looked very emotional, said she was the victim in this case as she never asked for a bribe.

Yesterday, Rosmah filed an application for Judge Mohamed Zaini to recuse himself from hearing or making a decision regarding the case on the grounds that the latter's judgment on the case had been leaked and went viral on social media on Aug 26.

Earlier, the prosecution objected to Rosmah's request for Judge Mohamed Zaini to recuse himself.

Rosmah's defence team informed the court that there was a risk of bias on the part of Judge Mohamed Zaini if he continued to hear Rosmah's case due to the existence of a 'draft judgement'.

Judge Mohamed Zaini then rejected Rosmah's application for his recusal, saying that the decision in Rosmah's case was made based on facts and the law.

The case was handled by Senior Deputy Public Prosecutor Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram while lawyers Datuk Akberdin Abdul Kader and Datuk Jagjit Singh represented Rosmah.

Rosmah, who was wearing a baju kurung and a yellow selendang, arrived at the court at 8.54 am, accompanied by her two children, Nooryana Najwa and Noorashman.

About 50 local and foreign media personnel had gathered from as early as 7 am to cover the high-profile case.

Rosmah is facing one charge of soliciting RM187.5 million and two counts of receiving bribes amounting to RM6.5 million from former Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin.

On Feb 18, 2021, Rosmah was ordered to defend herself on all three charges after the prosecution successfully proved a prima facie case against her.

The defence closed its case on Feb 23 after calling two witnesses, namely the accused herself and former First Lady of Malaysia (FLOM) division director Datuk Seri Siti Azizah Sheikh Abod.

-- BERNAMA