Rosmah emotionally upset, distressed, says lawyer

KUALA LUMPUR — Rosmah Mansor was emotionally upset and distressed after hearing that she would be forced to enter her defence against all three corruption charges that had been slapped against her.

The 69-year old wife of former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak had to be comforted after High Court Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan ruled that the prosecution had adduced enough credible evidence to establish a prima facie case against her.

Her lawyers, Mr Jagjit Singh and Mr Akberdin Abdul Kadir, said Rosmah would nevertheless fight the charges against her all the way.

"She was frankly emotionally upset... distressed and we had to comfort her a little bit.

"We just told her to go back to her house and remove all the stress... relax at home," Mr Jagjit told reporters as Rosmah made her way out of the courtroom while pressmen jostled to get shots of her.

Mr Jagjit added that the defence team also felt saddened by the judge's decision and were concerned by it, but added they would nevertheless "bow to the ruling".

"To say we are disappointed is an understatement... His Lordship called for her defence but has not given any reasons.

"So we don't really know what the thinking of the court is. We have to now speculate what His Lordship considers maximum evaluation in calling for her defence. We are extremely concerned but we will do our best," he said.

He added that the defence planned to call five or six of its own witnesses to testify besides looking at the prosecution list that had been offered to them.

Asked if Najib would be among those called to testify, he said: "It is going in that direction."

On how Rosmah intended to fight the case from now on, he said it had always been the defence's contention that she did not solicit any bribes.

On the contrary, he said, the solicitation for kickbacks was always done by a third person, namely Rosmah's former personal aide Rizal Mansor.

(Mr Rizal was originally Rosmah's co-accused in the trial but charges against him were dropped midway and he was turned into a prosecution witness.)

Mr Jagjit said as far as the second and third charges were concerned, the defence felt it had proven the money was not received by Rosmah.

"It is unfortunate the court has held that there is a prima facie case. We are hampered to a certain extend because the judge did not give the grounds

"However, we will prepare and be ready for it," he said.

Earlier, Judge Zaini ruled that the prosecution team had made its case against Rosmah over charges that she solicited and obtained bribes for a project to supply solar hybrid energy to rural schools in Sarawak.

He said the prosecution had succeeded in establishing a prima facie case against her by producing enough credible evidence that could lead to Rosmah's conviction if she opted to remain silent after being ordered to enter her defence.

"The accused will only be called to enter her defence if a prima facie case has been proven against her.

"The fundamental task of a trial judge at the end of the prosecution case is to ask himself whether he is prepared to convict the accused should she opt to remain silent if the defence is called.

"If the answer is negative, then no prima facie case has been made against the accused, and she should be acquitted," he said.

Judge Zaini added that while he did not propose to give a summary of his findings at this stage, he had after giving the prosecution's case the maximum evaluation, found that they had succeeded in proving a prima facie case against Rosmah in all three charges faced by her.

This included that she had, between January and April 2016, solicited RM187.5 million from Jepak Holdings managing director Saidi Abang Samsuddin through her former special aide Rizal Mansor.

The kickback was an inducement to assist Jepak Holdings obtain the Solar and Genset project from the Education Ministry through direct negotiations.

On the second and third charges, Rosmah was accused of corruptly receiving RM1.5 million from Saidi on September 7, 2017. The money was her reward for assisting Jepak Holdings to obtain the project.

On the third charge, she was accused of receiving another RM5 million on Dec 20, 2016.

Judge Zaini said he found the prosecution had adduced credible evidence to prove every element of all three charges, which if unrebutted, or unexplained, would lead to a conviction.

"I therefore call upon the accused to enter her defence," he said.

Rosmah, who was seated in the dock while Najib sat directly behind her in the public gallery, just looked on silently as the judge read out his decision.

However, she later voiced out that she needed to consult her lawyers when asked if she wanted to opt to remain silent and not answer the charges, give an unsworn statement from the dock without being cross examined, or testify under oath from the witness stand.

The judge allowed her request and after a brief discussion with Mr Jagjit, Rosmah said she would be testifying under oath.

This means Rosmah would be open to cross examination by the prosecution team, which is led by former Federal Court Judge Gopal Sri Ram and assisted by Deputy Public Prosecutor Ahmad Akram Abdul Gharib.

The court has fixed June 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, July 12 and 15 for continuation of the trial, which has seen 23 prosecution witnesses testify since proceedings began on Feb 5, 2020. NEW STRAITS TIMES