Rosmah shouldn't be charged under Amla, Income Tax Act: Lawyer

Rosmah Mansor should have never been hit with charges under the Anti-Money Laundering Act (Amla) and Income Tax Act, her lawyer contended.

Counsel Firoz Hussein Jamaluddin submitted before the Kuala Lumpur High Court for today’s hearing of her application to strike out 12 money laundering charges and five tax evasion charges involving over RM7 million.

The counsel for the wife of incarcerated former premier Najib Abdul Razak explained that the criminal charges are defective for equating non-declaring of income as a money laundering offence.

He noted that this is because the non-declaring of income is not a transaction under Amla.

“(If the defective charges are allowed to stand) That means thousands of Malaysians would commit money laundering just for merely not filing tax returns.

“(This is) As proceeds they honestly earn would be money laundering,” Firoz told trial judge K Muniandy.

The lawyer added that the charges must be struck out as they violated her fundamental right to life and liberty under Article 5 of the Federal Constitution.

Baseless, defective

In her striking-out bid, she claimed that the charges were baseless, defective, and premature, and did not reveal any offence under the law.

She contended the charges relating to alleged tax evasion are defective and inconclusive as there was no order from the tax authorities for her to make any tax payments.

Hearing before Muniandy will proceed on Nov 12, where deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib will counter-submit for the charges to remain against her.

The striking-out hearing first began on Dec 12 last year, after her money laundering and tax evasion trial was part-heard with prosecution witnesses taking the stand.

During today’s proceedings, the prosecution team did not update on the status of Rosmah’s representation for the withdrawal of the charges.

Rosmah’s charges

Her case involved 12 money laundering charges involving RM7,097,750 and five counts of failing to declare her income to the Inland Revenue Board (IRB).

The offences were purportedly committed at Affin Bank Berhad, Bangunan Getah Asli branch, Ground Floor, 148 Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur, between Dec 4, 2013, and June 8, 2017, and the IRB office at Kompleks Bangunan Kerajaan, Jalan Tuanku Abdul Halim, KL, between May 1, 2014, and May 1, 2018.

The money laundering charges are framed under Section 4(1)(a) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act - and those convicted are punishable under Section 4(1) of the act with a jail term of up to 15 years and a fine of not less than five times the value of the unlawful activity’s proceeds or RM5 million, whichever is higher.

The tax evasion charges under Section 77(1) of the Income Tax Act 1967 claimed that Rosmah failed to furnish returns of her income for the 2013 to 2017 assessment years to the IRB director-general on or before April 30, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 without reasonable excuse, in contravention of Section 112 of the act.

Previously, Rosmah was also convicted and sentenced to 10 years in jail and an RM970 million fine by the Kuala Lumpur High Court in a corruption case linked to the solar hybrid energy project for 369 rural schools in Sarawak.

However, the High Court allowed a stay on the execution of the sentence pending her appeal to the Court of Appeal to quash the guilty verdict as well as the jail term and fine.

Her solar case appeal is set to be heard by the appellate court on Oct 23.

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