THE Court of Appeal will decide on June 22 whether Rosmah Mansor has grounds to challenge the appointment of the late Gopal Sri Ram as the lead prosecutor in her RM1.25 billion corruption case.

A three-man bench chaired by Hanipah Farikullah heard today oral submissions from both sides.

The other members of the panel were Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali and See Mee Chun. 

The panel said it needed time to consider the submissions. 

“We need to read the legal authorities and the appeal records,” Hanipah said. 

Rosmah, who is the wife of jailed former prime minister Najib Razak, was not present in court today.

She was represented by lawyers Akberdin Abdul Kader and Jagjit Singh, while senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan appeared for the respondents.

Rosmah is appealing against the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s decision last year to dismiss her application for leave to proceed with a judicial review, which centred on her claim that her case was a nullity from the onset due to the invalid appointment of Sri Ram. 

On September 1 last year, the High Court had convicted her of corruption in connection with government contracts to retrofit schools in Sarawak with solar energy equipment. She was sentenced her to 10 years in jail and fined RM970 million.

However, she obtained a stay of execution of her sentence pending her appeal.

In the event the Court of Appeal grants leave for her to proceed, Rosmah’s judicial review will revert to the High Court for a full hearing of its merits.

High Court judge Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid had denied leave to Rosmah to pursue a judicial review because of preliminary objections from the Attorney-General’s Chambers and the government, the two respondents named in the judicial review.

The respondents had argued that the judicial review was filed out of time. – May 18, 2023.