Rosmah’s application to recuse Sri Ram as prosecutor postponed to June 17

KUALA LUMPUR (June 2): The hearing of Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor’s application to remove Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram from leading the prosecution in her solar graft trial has been postponed to June 17.

Submissions from both the defence and the prosecution were initially set to be heard by High Court Judge Justice Mohamed Zaini Mazlan online tomorrow via Zoom.

According to a letter by senior High Court registrar Nur Azizah Jaafar sighted by theedgemarkets.com, the submissions will be done physically in the court on June 17 as the current government-imposed lockdown is scheduled to end by June 14.

Besides that, the letter also stated that the June 15 and 16 dates fixed to hear Rosmah’s defence had also been vacated.

Early last month, Rosmah’s defence team filed an application to remove Sri Ram from the prosecution in the case, and wants the corruption proceedings that began in November 2018 until the close of the defence’s case declared null and void.

Rosmah, who has been ordered to enter her defence, is charged with soliciting a RM187.5 million bribe out of a RM1.25 billion project awarded to then Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin between January and April 2016 through her aide Datuk Rizal Mansor.

She also faces two charges of receiving a total of RM6.5 million — RM1.5 million and RM5 million from Saidi between Dec 20, 2016 and Sept 7, 2017 — at her official residence in Seri Perdana, Putrajaya and also her private residence in Jalan Langgak Duta.

The trial spanned 34 days, with 23 prosecution witnesses testified against her. Among the witnesses who testified were former education minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid, the ministry’s former secretary-general Tan Sri Dr Madinah Mohamad, her successor Datuk Seri Alias Ahmad, Rizal as well as Saidi and his former business partner Rayyan Radzwill Abdullah.