Rosmah's corruption hearing cancelled again as she was in close contact with a Covid-19 case

Judges did not want to conduct the trial via video-conferencing as they want to be absolutely "cautious".

Faris Alfiq | December 10, 2021, 06:10 PM

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Rosmah Mansor's corruption trial before Malaysia's High Court on Dec. 10, was adjourned again as she was identified as a close contact of a Covid-19 case, Malay Mail reported.

According to Malay Mail, Rosmah's status on Malaysia's contact tracing App, MySejahtera, indicated orange.

According to Malaysia's health ministry, an orange indicator means that you have been identified as a close contact to a positive Covid-19 case.

Three charges of corruption

Rosmah, who turns 70 today (Dec. 10), is currently facing three charges of corruption, Malay Mail reported.

She allegedly received RM5 million (S$1.6 million) worth of bribes from Jepak Holdings Sdn Berhad on Dec. 20, 2016, and Sep. 7, 2017, in exchange for helping the company to secure a RM1.25 billion (S$400 million) solar hybrid project.

Rosmah was also accused of soliciting RM187.5 million (S$60.5 million) from Saidi Abang Samsuddin, owner of Jepak Holdings, from January to April of 2016.

Lawyer did not personally see Rosmah's status

According to Malay Mail, before the court proceeding began, Rosmah's lawyers and court officials were seen approaching a car that Rosmah was believed to be in to check on her MySejahtera status.

Only those with blue status, which means low-risk of Covid-19, are allowed to enter the court complex.

High Court judge, Mohamed Zaini Mazlan, questioned Rosmah's lawyers regarding her status on MySejahtera.

In response, Rosmah's lawyer, Jagjit Singh, said that he "was out away from the verification" and did not personally see her status, Malay Mail reported.

Singh added that he believed Rosmah's orange status was verified by the court registrar.

Judge opposed hybrid trial

Lead prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram suggested a hybrid arrangement for the trial, where Rosmah could testify through video-conferencing, while lawyers and judges are physically present in the court.

Zaini said that he "thought about that" but he would like to be "a bit more cautious" to avoid the trial from being "derailed".

"We have no choice but to vacate then," Zaini added.

According to Malay Mail, Rosmah's corruption trial will resume on Dec. 13 where she is expected to continue to testify.

The trial will also continue on Dec. 23 and 24, as scheduled previously.

Najib will be called as witness

Another member of Rosmah's legal team also confirmed that there would be two more defence witnesses after Rosmah, including her husband, Najib Razak, Malay Mail reported.

The prosecution interjected and said that his cross-examination of Najib "will be a little long".

In view of the number of witnesses to be called, the judges requested for more trial dates to be scheduled for this case.

Further trial dates were slated for Jan. 10 to 14 and Feb. 4 next year.

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