The wife of former prime minister Najib Razak, who is attempting to disqualify Sri Ram as prosecutor and annul her trial, said the “appointment” in the midst of the proceedings was illegal, irregular and defective.
In a written submission filed in the High Court last week, and made available to FMT, the defence said it had requested for the prosecution to produce Sri Ram’s licence to prosecute.
However, this request was refused, resulting in an application being filed in July last year to compel the prosecution to produce Sri Ram’s licence to prosecute.
The following month, trial judge Zaini Mazlan dismissed Rosmah’s application and an appeal was filed.
In April, the Court of Appeal ruled that Sri Ram’s appointment letter was not dated on or before Nov 15, 2018, the day when Rosmah was charged in court, and was not signed by then attorney-general Tommy Thomas.
Judge Suraya Othman, who chaired the three-member bench, said the letter dated July 8, 2020 was signed by current Attorney-General Idrus Harun.
The defence said the prosecution made a “U-turn” when Thomas, in his affidavit, claimed that Sri Ram’s appointment to prosecute Rosmah was made orally under Section 376 (3) of the Criminal Procedure Code.
Thomas said that on Aug 30, 2018, he appointed Sri Ram as senior DPP to handle prosecutions relating to what has come to be known as the “1MDB scandal”.
Najib, who is facing 25 charges of corruption and money laundering in the alleged transfer of 1MDB funds into his accounts, had also applied to disqualify Sri Ram.
However, the Federal Court in August 2019 ruled that the appointment was valid.
Thomas said he then asked Sri Ram to conduct other prosecutions as well, including against Rosmah for corruption and money laundering.
Thomas said the defence’s insistence that he should have given Sri Ram another letter to prosecute Rosmah was a legal fallacy.
The defence said: “Sri Ram’s fiat (licence) dated July 8, 2020 to prosecute the accused (Rosmah) in the solar energy case was an afterthought and done with mala fide (bad faith).”
Zaini will hear oral submissions of both parties in open court on June 17.
In February, Rosmah, 69, was ordered to enter her defence on corruption charges linked to a solar energy project for Sarawak schools.
She is accused of soliciting RM187.5 million from former Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin through her then aide Rizal Mansor as an inducement to help the company secure the project through direct negotiations with the education ministry.
She is also accused of two counts of receiving bribes amounting to RM6.5 million from Saidi between 2016 and 2017.
The defence case is likely to be heard on June 22 and 23.
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