MALAYSIA — The Court of Appeal has scheduled this Friday to hear the application from Rosmah Mansor, the wife of former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, to postpone her appeal hearing on her conviction and sentence over the RM1.25 billion solar hybrid project for 369 rural schools in Sarawak.
Rosmah’s counsel Datuk Akberdin Abdul Kader, confirmed this when contacted today by the New Straits Times.
He said the prosecution did not object to their application.
The court is also expected to hear Rosmah’s appeal to recuse Court of Appeal Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan, who presided over as the High Court judge, from hearing her money laundering and tax evasion case.
Earlier, it was reported that the Appellate Court fixed four days in July to hear Rosmah’s appeal against her conviction and sentence handed by the High Court last year.
Rosmah, 71, was charged with soliciting RM187.5 million from former Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin, through her then-aide Datuk Rizal Mansor, as an inducement to help the company secure the project.
She was also accused of two counts of receiving bribes amounting to RM6.5 million from Saidi between 2016 and 2017.
Rosmah’s case started on 5 February 2020, and High Court judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan ordered her to enter her defence against all charges on 18 February 2021.
Zaini found Rosmah guilty of all three charges on 1 September last year.
Rosmah then filed for an appeal against the conviction through Messrs Akberdin & Coat in the Court of Appeal on 2 September.
She also filed an application to recuse Zaini following a leaked draft judgement of her trial by blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin a week before 1 September.
