Rosmah cites 127 grounds in solar corruption appeal

Rosmah Mansor has prepared 127 reasons in her appeal to set aside her conviction as well as the 10-year jail sentence and RM970 million fine in a corruption case linked to the RM1.25 billion solar hybrid energy project.

Among the grounds cited are that she had no power to approve any government projects as she was merely the wife of then-prime minister Najib Abdul Razak and that trial judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan was biased against her.

These reasons are contained in Rosmah’s petition of appeal filed at the Court of Appeal yesterday by her lawyers from the law firm Akberdin and Co.

She is appealing against the Kuala Lumpur High Court decision on Sept 1 in relation to three graft charges involving the project for 369 rural schools in Sarawak.

In a copy of the appeal petition made available to the media, Rosmah repeated the defence’s contention that the real mastermind behind the crime was actually her former aide, Rizal Mansor.

Initially charged along with her in the case, the prosecutors later dropped the case against Rizal and he became the 21st prosecution witness (SP21) against her.

Rosmah claimed that Zaini had erred and misdirected himself on the point of fact in his judgment as she contended all negotiations, meetings and preparation of the proposal letter for the project were prepared by Saidi Abang Samsudin and Rayyan Radzwill Abdullah, with the purported involvement of Rizal as the “mastermind”.

The seventeenth prosecution witness Saidi was the managing director of Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd, the company which was awarded the project, while 16th prosecution witness Rayyan used to be Saidi’s business partner.

Rosmah claimed that Rizal had used his position and misused her name for his alleged machination for personal and political aims, and it was done without her knowledge.

She rubbished Rizal’s testimony that the latter discussed with her the proposed bribes, claiming that she had never sought any bribe.

Rosmah also alleged that she was a victim of selective prosecution as she was never involved or intervened to secure the project.

“The appellant (Rosmah) is merely the wife of the (then) prime minister (Najib) and not a public servant (penjawat awam). Therefore, the appellant does not have the power to greenlight any government projects,” Rosmah claimed.

“The overall decision of the High Court judge was one-sided (berat sebelah) and not based on proper judicial deliberation, and not in line with legal precedents laid down in previous cases.

“The entire decision of the High Court judge was also based on incorrect summation (kesimpulan yang tidak tepat) and contravened with clear testimonies,” she contended.

Rosmah also relied on her previous testimony during the trial, that even if hypothetically she had wanted to benefit from the project, she would have just instead directly asked her husband Najib, who was the then-premier, rather than seeking the help of the fifth, sixth and 12th prosecution witnesses.

The trio witnesses are the fifth prosecution witness - former education minister Mahdzir Khalid, sixth prosecution witness former education ministry secretary-general and ex-auditor general Madinah Mohamad and 12th prosecution witness, Alias Ahmad, who succeeded Madinah in the Education Ministry.

The appeal is set for case management before the Court of Appeal on Nov 14.

Rosmah is also appealing against Zaini’s dismissal of her application for him to withdraw from presiding over the solar corruption case.

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